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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



A LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER 




MARTIN LUTHER 



A LIFE OF 

MARTIN LUTHER 

THE GREAT REFORMER 

OF THE SIXTEENTH 

CENTURY 



LOVICK PIERCE WINTER 



Nashville, Tenn.; Dallas, Tex. 

Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South 

Smith & Lamar, Agents 

191 1 



Til? 3 2.5 



Copyright, igii 

BY 

Smith & Lamar 






©CI.A2S9674 



=1^ 



DEDICATION 



®o % Mtmttt^ of ilg 3FatI|fr 

John Christopher Winter 
Who was a native of Germany, and was christened and confirmed 
in the Lutheran Church; who was always loyal to the Fatherland 
and to the communion of his fathers; who was equally loyal to the 
land and Church of his later adoption; and whose sturdy integrity 
and fidelity have been an inspiration to me through all the forty 
years since he died, this Life of Martin Luther is reverently dedi- 
cated. 
July 30th, igio. 

(5)- 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. PAOE. 
Luther's Parentage and Boyhood 9 

CHAPTER II. 
Luther's Education — at Home and School 21 

CHAPTER IIL 
Luther at the University 32 

CHAPTER IV. 
Luther Becomes a Monk 43 

CHAPTER V. 
Luther as Monk, Priest, and Teacher 53 

CHAPTER VL 

Luther at Wittenburg 64 

CHAPTER VIL 
Luther and His Age 78 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Luther the Preacher 91 

CHAPTER IX. 
Luther's Theses 103 

CHAPTER X. 
Luther Defends His Theses — The Reformation Begins 120 

CHAPTER XL 
Luther in the Gathering Storm 141 

CHAPTER XIL 

Luther, before the Diet of Worms 157 

(7) 



8 A Life of Martin Luther. 

CHAPTER XIIL 
Luther at the Diet of Worms 165 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Luther at the Wartburg^ and After 182 

CHAPTER XV. 
Luther and the Peasants' War 198 

CHAPTER XVL 
Luther's Marriage 214 

CHAPTER XVH. 
Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg 226 

CHAPTER XVHL 
Luther at Coburg, the Diet of Augsburg^ and Other 
Events 248 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Luther and the Further Progress of the Reformation 264 

CHAPTER XX. 
Luther at Home and among His Friends 280 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Luther's "Table Talk." 294 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Luther's Last Days 308 



A LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 

CHAPTER I. 
Luther's Parentage and Boyhood. 

Saxony is one of the most important of the Ger- 
man States. Lying between Prussia and Austria, for 
many centuries the rivals for German supremacy, its 
location has made it the battle ground in many wars 
and the burial ground of many brave soldiers. It is 
a land of hills and forests, of cities and mines, of agri- 
culture and education, of famous universities and 
noted manufactures. In the centuries-long history of 
Germany, its people have played an important part in 
the romantic annals of an always interesting race. 

"Marry your neighbor's daughter," says an old 
German proverb; and so at Mohra, a little village in 
the very heart of Saxony, in the last quarter of the 
fifteenth century, Hans Luder, a peasant, married a 
neighboring girl, Margaret Ziegler. These were the 
parents of Martin Luther, the great reformer. 

Mohra was a small, insignificant village, without 
even a church, the people worshiping in a sort of 
chapel-of-ease affiliated with a neighboring parish. 
The neighbors of the newly married couple were poor, 
but strong and har-dy, ready at any time for a fisticuff 
or a foot race. The soil, too, was poor, much of it 
being moorland, and farming was not remunerative. 
Besides farming, mining was one of the occupations 

(9) 



10 A Life of Martin Luther. 

of the people of Mohra, and these two strenuous pur- 
suits bred a race full of manly, muscular strength, the 
people to whom in every land the Church and the 
State must look for preachers and statesmen and sol- 
diers. 

Hans Luder, or John Luther (Hans and John being 
dififerent derivatives of the German Johann, the spell- 
ing in that language of the name John) belonged, as 
his distinguished son was proud to say, to a peasant 
family. But some time in the past the family must 
have had a better standing, for there was an ancestral 
coat of arms. This was a crossbow, with a rose on 
each side, a device which seem.s altogether appropriate 
for Martin Luther. The name Luther was not origi- 
nally a surname but a given name, and, according to 
Kostlin, is identical with Lothar — "one distinguished 
in war." One poetically disposed might easily find an 
appropriateness in the name when borne by Martin 
Luther. 

The name does not appear in the present spelling 
until Martin began to distinguish himself and the 
family name by his work as a reformer. Possibly it 
was an effort to give the name something of the Latin 
spelling, a bit of amusing pedantry quite common in 
those -days. Sometimes, as Greek was now coming 
into vogue, men of learning turned their surnames into 
that language instead of into Latin. For instance, the 
original name of Melanchthon, Luther's fellow-laborer 
in the Reformation, was Swarzerd ("black earth"), 
and the bearer of the name, perhaps because he did 
not like its sound or suggestions, changed it into a 



Luther's Parentage and Boyhood. II 

combination of two Greek words which meant the 
same as the original German name, but had a more 
agreeable sound and one that was more classic and 
scholarly. 

Round about Mohra as late as the eighties of the 
last century there were several families who bore the 
name Luther, and one who was familiar with them 
states that they bore a strong family resemblance to 
their illustrious kinsman of the sixteenth century. 

The name of Martin Luther's mother has been given 
by all the authorities as Margaret Lindemann. But 
Julius Kostlin, who has already been referred to, and 
to whom all biographers of Luther must hereafter ac- 
knowledge their indebtedness, says that this was the 
name of Luther's grandmother, and not of his mother, 
and that Luther's mother was Margaret Ziegler. 

Some months after their marriage John Luther and 
his young wife changed their home from Mohra to 
Eisleben. The enemies of Luther, ready always to ac- 
cept every slander put into circulation about himself 
and his family and to supply all that they did not find 
ready at their hand, have asserted that the reason for 
moving to Eisleben was that John Luther had killed a 
neighbor and fled to the latter place for safety. This 
story is so absurd on its face that it is manifest nothing 
but the malignant hatred of Luther's foes could have 
given it any sort of currency, even in the times of the 
Reformation. In fact, the story seems to have had 
larger circulation and credence in recent times than it 
had in the days of John Luther. If the elder Luther 
had been a fugitive from justice, as this account as- 



12 A Life of Martin Luther. 

serts, he would hardly have fled only a few miles and 
then taken up his home within the jurisdiction of the 
same ruler, who was the elector of Saxony. 

John Luther was a miner by occupation. Copper 
was beginning to be mined in the country round about 
Eisleben, and he went thither, and later still to Mans- 
feld, that he might find more work in his chosen call- 
ing. He prospered in the course of time, and con- 
trolled two furnaces. 

While the two young people were resident at Eis- 
leben, Frau Luther gave birth to her first-born child. 
This babe was the infant who, in the course of time and 
in the providence of God, led the forces in the great 
Reformation which in a few years was to change the 
history of all Europe and the world. The date of this 
important advent and event was November lo, 1483. 

If Sixtus IV., whose shameful and shameless reign 
as pope came to its ignominious close the next year, 
had but known the epochal event, that ecclesiastical 
seeker of a worldly kingdom would have left off his 
effort to crush the Medici and to set his nephew up 
in a principality, and delayed his treacherous murder 
of a man he had taken prisoner long enough to have 
repeated Herod's slaughter of the innocents, in order 
to rid the papacy of a man who was destined to wrest 
much of its ill-gotten power from its rapacious hands. 
But Sixtus had no wise men to tell of the star in the 
east, nor did he know what manner of child this infant 
son of a German peasant might be. 

The good mother was always certain as to the hour 
(which was between eleven and twelve o'clock at 



Luther's Parentage and Boyhood. 13 

night) and the day and the month, but was not so sure 
about the year. 

The next day after the young child opened his eyes 
upon the earth which he was to help to reconquer for 
his Master, he was taken by his devout and grateful 
father to the church and baptized. As the day was 
St. Martin's eve, the boy was christened Martin. 

The house where Martin Luther was born was part- 
ly destroyed by fire many years ago, but some of the 
old structure is still standing, and is shown with much 
pride to travelers. And various localities here and 
elsewhere, identified with the history of Luther, have 
been marked by appropriate monuments. It was a 
singular coincidence that Luther should die in the 
very town where he was born. 

It has been previously stated that John Luther pros- 
pered in business, a fact which illustrates the industry 
and enterprise of the father of the great reformer. 
But it must not be supposed that this prosperity came 
at once. At first there was deep poverty. And the 
family increased after the patriarchal manner of the 
old German stock. There were at least seven children 
in all; and to maintain these and keep the oldest son 
in school made the home of John and Margaret Lu- 
ther anything but the abode of luxury and ease. Ger- 
man women of the middle and lower classes have al- 
ways been accustomed to some forms of labor that in 
some other lands have been regarded as too arduous, 
if not too menial, for females. Many a good German 
housewife has helped her husband in the field, assist- 
ing him in saving the flax or hay or grain and in tend- 



14 A Life of Martin Luther. 

ing the cattle, and felt no incongruity between her task 
and her sex. This outdoor life in their early years "no 
doubt accounts in no small degree for the notable fresh- 
ness and vitality of German women. The kitchen, the 
cow stall, and the hay field may not afford as fine cul- 
ture as the parlor, the seminary, and the social gath- 
• ering, but they fit women for wifehood, motherhood, 
and womanhood in at least the physical strength 
which they impart. Male Germans have often gone 
very far afield in their learning and philosophy, but 
the average German woman has been faithful to the 
standard of Naomi and Ruth. 

Martin Luther tells us that his mother performed 
much hard work in the home; that she often brought 
fire wood on her shoulders and did many such like 
tasks. But we may be sure that the worthy John was 
not idle all this while. Tending furnaces is very 
exacting work, and John Luther ate no idle bread and 
slept no needless slumber. Martin in after years 
honored his father with the reverence of a true son, 
and did not forget to record the fact that the means 
necessary to keep him in school were earned by his 
father "by the sweat of his brow." 

John Luther was a man of decided character and 
most independent convictions. Two or three authen- 
tic incidents will illustrate this. Once, when very sick 
and apparently near death, an attending priest sug- 
gested that the sick man ought before he died to 
make a donation to the Church. "My family need my 
property worse than the Church does, and I shall 
leave it to them," said the strong-headed sick man. 



" Luther's Parentage and Boyhood, 15 

As the Roman Catholic Church was receiving reve- 
nues from more than half the land in Gennany at 
this time, this announcement from the elder Luther 
indicated no lack of liberality to the Church. 

When Martin Luther decided to enter a monastery, 
and when he endeavored to satisfy the father that he 
had a call from God to this life, the father said: 
"Pray God that it may not be a delusion of the devil 
rather than a call from God." 

And discussing this same matter with some of the 
high dignitaries of the Church, he did not hesitate to 
tell them that they had encouraged his son to violate 
the fifth commandment. The practical, hard-handed, 
hard-headed old German had little patience with a 
religion which taught that men must shut themselves 
up from their fellow-men and from the ordinary and 
needful employments of life in order to be the ac- 
cepted servants of the Lord. Possibly John Luther 
did not reason it all out at once, but there is good 
cause for believing that this honest-hearted, hard- 
working man protested against the other-worldliness 
which prayed and fasted and flagellated itself, or, de- 
spairing of whipping religion into the soul through 
the body or fasting the depravity out of the heart, 
betook itself to the easy enjoyment of the fruits of 
other men's toil or, mayhap, to the grosser forms of 
carnal enjoyment. 

But John Luther was a really religious man. He 
prayed by the bedside of his children, gave them moral 
instruction, and exercised a fatherly authority over 
them. He believed as firmly in the rod as did King 



l6 A Life of Martin Luther. 

Solomon, and one might be disposed to think from the 
results that he put that faith into practice more wisely 
and seasonably than did the father of Rehoboam. Pos- 
sibly in no Christian land is the authority of the father 
so fully recognized as in Germany. To other peoples 
the native land is the "mother country," to the Ger- 
man it is the "fatherland." And these old Teutons 
have been great home makers and home lovers. In 
their native land, and in the many lands into which 
they have wandered, they have shown this racial and 
national trait, which has made Germany what it is and 
Germans the best of citizens in all the countries where 
they have found a home. 

So stern was John Luther in his family government 
that his son Martin spoke of it depreciatingly in his 
after life. "Parents should control their children," 
he said, "but they should love them also." 

It is easy to imagine that this hard-handed old 
German might not always be soft-handed in control- 
ling his household. Whatever Martin Luther may 
have thought of the severity of the paternal discipline, 
he never doubted his father's love; and he had no 
reason to doubt it. The interest John Luther took in 
the education of his children, especially his son Mar- 
tin, considering the age in which he lived and the 
poverty of the family, shows that the elder Luther 
was a man of unusual aspirations. It would seem as 
if a prophetic voice had whispered into the heart of 
the father some intimation of what his son would be 
and do, and thus urged him on to self-denying -effort 
in behalf of his boy's education. He toiled in the mine 



Luther's Parentage and Boyhood. 17 

or in the furnace by day and by night, that his first- 
born son might be educated. This was the ruling 
passion of his Hfe. By the time Martin was six years 
old he had been taught to read. Of Martin's school 
days we shall speak later. 

Not much is recorded of Martin Luther's mother. 
And perhaps there was not much to record. The work 
of a wife and mother affords little material for written 
history. About all that her contemporaries said of 
Margaret Luther was that she was a good woman. 
In her humble home close to the Harz Mountains 
this true-hearted German woman, unknown beyond the 
narrow circle of her neighborhood, and little known 
even yet, was making a history destined to be record- 
ed in many languages and in many lands and in the 
lives of many generations yet unborn. She was, no 
doubt, just a plain woman, a good housekeeper, as is 
the manner of German women, too busy with her 
duties as mother and wife to spend much time in day- 
dreams, and quite content so long as her husband and 
children were fed and clothed and sheltered and 
nursed. And she knew how to use the rod as unspar- 
ingly as did John Luther. Martin says that she 
whipped him once till the blood came because he took 
a nut without her permission. It was possibly not the 
size of the nut but the largeness of the lesson of hon- 
esty which the son needed that nerved the arm of the 
mother on this occasion. 

What mental traits Martin inherited from his mother 
we can only conjecture. Perhaps he learned from her, 
while still a child around her knees, some of those les- 
2 



i8 A Life of Martin Luther, 

sons of faith, tinged with superstition, which clung to 
him all his life. 

The Germans, like their neighbors in Northern Eu- 
rope, have always been rich in folklore. The climate, 
the scenery, the productions, the occupations — these, 
with many other facts, always including the history of 
a people, give origin and shape to the nursery tales, 
the fiction and the poetry of a nation. Tolstoy, as much 
of a hermit as he has sought to make of himself, has 
nevertheless been true to the uncompromising seasons, 
the snowstorms, the fearful winters, and the short sum ■ 
mers of his native land in the strange, half savage, half 
Christian literature he has sent forth from his home in 
the wide domain of the Czar, and true, too, to the po- 
litical conditions of a nation that Americans cannot un- 
derstand. And the folklore of the Germans is true to 
the land of its birth, a land of long winters and short 
summers, of snow and ice and the bitter north wind, 
of wooded hills and forest-covered mountains which 
woo the imagination to thoughts of sprites and genii, 
of plains and meadows and fields of grain, of cities and 
homes and patriotic traditions, and a land whose very 
history is an education to its inhabitants in all that is 
heroic in war and lovable in peace. 

We may be sure that Frau Luther did not neglect to 
tell her children of the many traditions of her people, 
and also those weird stories of strange beings, on the 
earth but not of it, who kept guard over the mountain 
heights not far away, of those giants of old, and of the 
saints from St. Christopher to St. Ursula. And it was 
an age when the wisest men believed in witchcraft. 



Luther's Parentage and Boyhood. 19 

The year after Martin Luther was born a famous papal 
bull was issued, allowing the punishment of any per- 
son found guilty of practicing this occult art of evil. 
We smile now at all this superstition, or pity the men 
and women whose lives were tormented by it ; but even 
Lecky, the rationalist, admits that the evidence brought 
forward in the trials of some that were accused of 
witchcraft was quite enough to convict, if witchcraft 
were only a fact. The stories that young Martin heard 
from his mother's lips about all these things affected 
his whole after life. The faith of childhood abides 
through all the after years, sometimes when men would 
throw it off; and faith that is wholly false, or half true, 
seems more tenacious than true faith. Martin Luther's 
realistic faith in the devil, who was to him a real per- 
sonality, sometimes visible and tangible, and always 
alert and diabolically active, came, we may be assured, 
not from the Church alone, but from the stories he 
heard from his mother in his childhood home in Mans- 
feld. And when in after years he chose St. Anne, the 
reputed mother of the Virgin Mary, as his patron saint, 
his superstition was not merely the result of the train- 
ing of the Church upon himself, but to the effect of 
that training upon the mother. Mothers, and not 
Churches or theological seminaries, make the faith of 
a people. If Martin Luther's mother had not been a 
believer in the Christianity of her times, Martin Lu- 
ther had not been the reformer. Such a son could not 
have been the child of an irreligious mother. Men get 
their best or their worst natures from their mothers. 
From the sturdy Hans Luther Martin inherited his 



20 A Life of Martin Luther. 

courage, his common sense, and his indomitable will; 
from Margaret Luther he inherited his religious bent 
and that honesty and sensitiveness of conscience which 
made of him first a monk and finally the reformer. 

Luther's childhood, according to his own testimony, 
was not as happy as we generally suppose childhood 
to be. His father was a rigid disciplinarian, his mother 
was too busy with her manifold duties to be as 
thoughtful and considerate of the boy's feelings as 
she might have been, perhaps, and his sensitive nature 
(for he was evidently a sensitive child) distorted 
every little grievance into a great wrong, as his con- 
science magnified every act of evil into a mortal sin. 
But what he says on this subject should not be con- 
strued into bitter complaints against his parents. Much 
of what he said in his later life about every matter 
that he spoke of in his sermons and in his "table talk" 
was intended to illustrate or to impress some truth or 
duty. We cannot conceive of Martin Luther as a 
weak, shrinking, pliable child, always obedient and 
always docile. Such a child could not have grown into 
such a man. John Luther may have been too austere 
at times, but less firmness might have ruined his son. 
His love for his son was not that spineless love which 
yields complaisantly to the wishes of a child rather 
than meet the inevitable conflict between will and will 
involved in parental control. Martin Luther was a 
normal boy, full of life and fun and frolic, hard-headed 
like his father, no doubt, and not unhappy long at a 
time. And that his parents were wise and faithful, 
his whole career is witness. 



CHAPTER II. 
LuTHER^s Education — At Home and at School. 
This began at an early age, and began, as all edu- 
cation should begin, at home. The printing press had 
brought books within the reach of people to whose 
fathers they were unknown luxuries. And the elder 
Luther loved good books, and read as many of them 
as were accessible and as he could spare the time to 
read, for he was always a busy man. As the years 
passed, and the diligent and enterprising Hans Luther 
began to gather means, he bought himself a home, and 
made this home not only the center of comfort for his 
household, but opened its hospitable doors to men of 
learning especially, and around the table over their 
simple meals host and guests discussed many ques- 
tions of politics, and more frequently questions of re- 
ligion and matters of wide range in general knowledge. 
Froude remarks upon the marvelous extent of Luther's 
information, and we may be sure that the foundations 
for this broad and comprehensive learning were laid 
in the parental home at Mansfeld. A child learns 
more in the first ten years of his life than he learns in 
any other decade, however long he may live and how- 
ever studious he may be. He finds a teacher every- 
where — in birds, in sunshine, in trees, in flowers, in 
growing grain, in his companions, and, above all, in 
his parents and in his home. And Martin Luther's 
parents were faithful teachers and his childhood home 
was a good school. 

(21) 



22 A Life of Martin Luther. 

He was sent away from home to school at a tender 
age. Frequently his father, busy as he was, would 
carry the little fellow to the schoolhouse on his back, 
especially when the weather was bad. A young man 
named Nicholas Emler often performed a similar 
kindly office for the young student. This young man 
afterwards married a sister of Martin Luther, and 
the latter used to refer good-humoredly to the days 
when he went to school on the back of his older friend, 
now become his brother-in-law. 

George Emilius, who evidently had more scholar- 
ship in his name than in his pedagogic equipment, was 
young Martin's first school-teacher. This individual, 
historic by reason of his connection with the young life 
of the future reformer, seemed to have had only two 
qualifications for his place as school-teacher — his cru- 
elty and his incompetency. He was a prototype of 
Master Squeers, of Dotheboys Hall. What he could 
not impart with the end of his tongue he imparted 
with the end of his rod ; and since the former was small, 
the latter was necessarily large. Luther tells us that 
this same George Emilius flogged him fifteen times in 
one day, and all because Luther could not repeat what 
the master had never taught him. Such an experience 
was at least a lesson in numeration. The wonder is 
that the boy had sense enough to keep count through 
all these floggings. Such cruelty would have crushed 
the spirit of a weaker child or driven him to despera- 
tion. One marvels that the child did not get such a 
distaste for learning as to hate the very name of schol- 
arship and the very sight of books. And the patience 



Ltither's Education. 23 

and persistence of Hans Luther through all this in- 
human treatment of his eldest son find their only ex- 
planation in the fact that the father had determined 
that the son should be educated. In after years Luther 
spoke of the school-teachers of the times as tyrants 
and executioners, of the schools as prisons and hells, 
and declared that, despite all the cruelty in the en- 
forcement of discipline, little was taught the pupils. 
And one is not surprised that he had this opinion. 

In the school at Mans f eld, notwithstanding the harsh 
discipline of George Emilius, young Luther learned to 
read and write, and even learned something of Latin. 
And like many another student of the Roman tongue, 
he found bewilderment and discouragement in the de- 
clension of Latin nouns and the conjugation of Latin 
verbs. 

The schoolhouse where young Luther attended 
school in Mans f eld was standing a few years ago, at 
least the lower part of the building was. Its site is 
at the end of the principal street of the village, which 
climbed a hill to this point; and the school therefore 
commanded a view of the little town and the surround- 
ing country. Here in the long ago the boy began his 
first systematic study of his mother tongue, a lan- 
guage he made the permanent speech of his people for 
all the ages since by translating into it the Bible, a 
book he did not see in its entirety till years and years 
after this. 

When Luther was fourteen, his father decided to 
send him away from home to find a better school. 
George Reinicke, a son of the superintendent of the 



24 A Life of Martin Luther, 

mines in Mansfeld, had been in school in Magdeburg, 
and doubtless on that account the father chose to send 
Martin thither. The two youths went alone and on 
foot. George Reinicke afterwards in his manhood 
rose to a position of great usefulness in the mines at 
Mansfeld, and he and Luther were lifelong friends. 

What particular school Luther attended in Magde- 
burg is not known, and little is recorded of his ex- 
periences in this city. He tarried here a year, in much 
poverty all the time, and in abject want some of the 
time. Whatever else he learned in the schools here, 
a twelve months' stay in this city by the Elbe was 
itself an education to the rustic but wide-awake youth 
from Mansfeld. Here was an old cathedral where 
was buried the body of Otto the Great, the founder 
of the city, and here were many fortifications, and, bet- 
ter still, much of the growing commerce of this ad- 
vancing age. As the boy, often homesick and lonely, 
walked the one great, wide street and the many nar- 
row, crooked streets of the city, he did not dream of 
the effect his Hfe work would have upon the destinies 
of a people who had no doubt passed him by with only 
such notice and such charity as they were accustomed 
to give mendicant students. One of the popes had 
made Magdeburg the principal see of the Primate of 
Germany, and about the city gathered many Romish 
traditions and associations; but the city was early in 
its acceptance of the doctrines of the Reformation, 
and suffered greatly because of its Protestantism. In 
the Thirty Years' War, which was one of the bloody 
sequels of the Reformation, the city was taken by the 



Luther's Education. 25 

Imperialists after a protracted siege, and for three 
days it was given over to pillage and flame. Thirty 
thousand of its inhabitants perished, others threw 
themselves into the Elbe to escape from their pitiless 
conquerors, and only one hundred and thirty houses 
and the cathedral were left standing after this ordeal 
of blood and fire. But the city rose from its ashes, 
became a greater city than ever before, and it is to- 
day one of the great railroad centers of Prussian Sax- 
ony. And it has never given up its Protestantism. 

A medical friend of Luther's records the only re- 
membered incident of the young student's stay in 
Magdeburg. Martin was very sick with a high fever, 
and, as was the custom in 'those days, he was not al- 
lowed to drink any water. One day while all the 
members of the family were away from home, tor- 
mented by thirst, he crawled out of bed and into the 
kitchen, and, getting some water, he drank to his 
heart's content. Crawling back to his bed again, no 
doubt with direful expectations as to the consequences 
of his imprudence, he fell asleep, and awoke without 
fever. And so, even then, he was setting at naught 
the teachings of contemporary medical science, as he 
afterwards did contemporary theology. 

As already stated, young Martin attended school at 
Magdeburg only a twelvemonth. At fifteen he was 
sent to school at Eisenach. This town is delightfully 
situated among wooded hills, and is even yet, though 
a place with less than 20,000 people, not merely a 
thriving little city, but likewise the center of much in- 
telligence. Its streets are broad and clean, and it is, 



26 A Life of Martin Luther. 

as it no doubt was in the days of Luther, a worthy 
specimen of a German town. 

Hans Luther had numerous relatives in Eisenach 
and in the country round about, and he sent Martin 
to school here with a hope, perhaps, that these kindred 
would assist the struggling youth in his effort to get 
an education. But none of them seems to have been 
in a position to help Martin except one named Kon- 
rad, who was a man of means and standing in the 
town. 

In the old days in Germany it was not uncommon 
for men of prominence to send their sons to school 
without providing fully for their maintenance. In 
such cases the impecunious students would go sing- 
ing from door to door, especially at Christmas time, 
and would gladly accept such help as the people of 
the town and adjacent count/y were willing to give 
them. And many a hungry lad received a loaf of 
good German bread or a sausage and, mayhap, a pot 
of beer, which was the daily drink of the people. Pos- 
sibly this custom had its origin in the wandering life 
of the minstrels, who carried the song of minnesinger 
and troubadour from castle to castle and from home 
to home in Germany and other nations of Europe; 
and, no doubt, the serenade, so common in so many 
lands, particularly in Southern Europe and Spanish 
America, had a similar origin. 

Martin Luther was one of the student serenaders 
of his times, and was never ashamed of the fact. In 
later life he spoke a kindly word in behalf of poor 
young men who were seeking an education in poverty. 



Luther's Education, 27 

and acknowledged that he himself used to go from 
door to door singing for a piece of bread, "for the 
love of God." 

On one occasion, at Christmas time, Martin and 
some of his fellow-students approached a lonely farm- 
house and sang their song. The owner came out with 
two great sausages in his hand, and called out gruffly : 
"Where are you, you young rascals?" The boys 
thought the old farmer was angry, and, taking fright, 
ran away as fast as their young legs could carry them. 
But the kind-hearted old farmer was not to be out- 
done in his efforts to satisfy the appetites of his stu- 
dent visitors, so he went after them and, calling them 
back, he gave them the sausages. 

Another outcome of this wandering minstrelsy was 
one of the happiest episodes in the whole life of Mar- 
tin Luther. In the town lived a prominent and well- 
to-do family named Cotta. Frau Cotta, the good 
Ursula, was attracted by the sweet and plaintive voice 
of the boy Luther, and drawn to him by his evident 
piety. Martin's voice was a tenor, and while it was 
not loud, it had great carrying power and was sweet 
and pathetically tender as he sang the hymns with 
which the German language was even then well sup- 
plied. The young student not only sang but played 
on the flute, which he learned without an instructor, 
and was a lifelong lover of music, which he declared 
was one of God's best gifts to men. Frau Cotta, with 
the full consent of her worthy husband, Konrad Cot- 
ta, invited Martin into her home ; and if he did not 
become a regular inmate of the family, he was always 



28 A Life of Martin Luther, 

a welcome guest at her table. Her kindness to the 
youth afterwards to become the great reformer has 
made the name of Ursula Cotta a household word in 
every German home and given her memory a warm 
place in the hearts of the Germans in their native 
land and in every other land whither they have gone 
in search of homes and wealth. In this home Luther 
was first brought into intimate association with people 
of greater culture than the inhabitants -of the mining 
town of Mansfeld, and thus acquired the social polish 
which afterwards made him the welcome companion 
of nobles and princes. From his peasant neighbors 
among the miners in his old home he had learned 
many of those rough lessons of life which he needed 
in his life work, especially that sympathy for the poor, 
without which no man can be a political and religious 
reformer; and now he was to learn some of those 
patrician lessons which he needed in order to enlist 
the cooperation of men of noble birth in the work 
for which he was all the time unconsciously prepar- 
ing. The daughter of Pharaoh unwittingly and unin- 
tentionally trained for his life work the man that was 
to despoil Egypt; Frau Cotta unwittingly but gladly 
helped to prepare Martin Luther for the deliverance 
of the Church from the bondage of Rome, a bondage 
worse than the slavery of Egypt. But she did not 
live long enough to share in the fruits of the life la- 
bors of her protege. The good Ursula Cotta died in 
15 1 1, six years before Martin Luther nailed his theses 
to the door of the church at Wittenberg. 

It was her kindness to him and his knowledge of 



Luther s Education. 29 

her beautiful character that inspired Luther's saying, 
"There is nothing sweeter than the heart of a pious 
woman." 

Young Martin found other friends at Eisenach. 
Among these was a learned man, one Father Wie- 
gand, with whom he maintained in after life a warm 
and intimate friendship. This friendship was formed 
during the time that Luther was Father Wiegand's 
pupil at Eisenach. Another teacher there was a 
learned poet named John Trebonius. This teacher 
was evidently a gentleman, for it is recorded that on 
entering the schoolroom in the morning he would take 
off his hat and bow politely to the students. When 
some one of less good manners rallied him on account 
of this, he said: "Why, there may be among these 
youths a future mayor or chancellor or learned doc- 
tor." 

This prophetic assumption was more than justified 
in the case of his pupil, Martin Luther. But whether 
the polite Trebonius discovered anything in the young 
man that inspired any special expectations with ref- 
erence to Luther's future career we do not know. 

Young Martin was a hard, diligent student. What- 
ever he may have lost during the weary, cruel days 
under George Emilius was fully made up by his ap- 
plication at Eisenach. He outstripped his fellow- 
students, and stood well in all his classes. And these 
days of youthful danger to his moral character were 
not marred by youthful excesses and dissipations. 
Even his worst enemies during his lifetime never 
charged him with dissolute habits. Men whose youths 



30 A Life of Martin Luther. 

were marred by gross sins have in after life rendered 
mighty service in the rescue of the fallen, sometimes 
outstripping in their zeal the activity of men of 
chaster lives; but when the Lord hath had need of 
a great apostle, a great reformer, a great revivalist, 
or a great religious pioneer, he has chosen a Paul, a 
Luther, a Wesley, or a Francis Asbury — men of clean 
youth, who never knew the debasing effects of drunk- 
enness and debauchery. Great sinners have found 
a place of repentance and great usefulness in the sav- 
ing of other great sinners; but sin has never been 
good training for great service in the Church. 

At Eisenach Luther acquired a good knowledge of 
Latin, mastering it sufficiently well to write Latin 
verse. 

In addition to Latin, Luther took substantially what 
we call the academic course at Eisenach. The author- 
ities say he studied *'the arts." These, according to 
the classification of the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages, 
were seven in number: grammar, logic, rhetoric (two 
branches), arithmetic, geometry, and music. It is 
not certain that Luther studied all these branches 
thoroughly. It is probable that he did not. But it 
seems certain that he gave much attention to litera- 
ture and that he was fond of linguistic studies. 

He thought well of the school at Eisenach, and 
spoke of it in high terms of praise in his after years. 
He had all of a true man's attachment for the places 
where he had attended school, and he remembered 
his associates with loyal affection, and never forgot 
those who befriended him in the days of his poverty 



Luther's EducatiGn. 31 

and struggle. When, years after this, he was one of 
the professors at the University of Wittenberg, he re- 
joiced to take into his own home a son of the good 
Ursula Cotta, who had been his friend in the time of 
his need at Eisenach. 

Luther was eager for knowledge, and what he had 
acquired at Eisenach only served to stimulate his 
thirst. He longed to go to the University at Erfurt, 
the greatest center of learning in Germany at that 
time. By this time his father had prospered in busi- 
ness sufficiently to furnish the necessary means to 
gratify this ambition. Hans Luther about this time 
became one of the town council of Mans f eld, and had 
taken the rank of a burgher. It had been the ambi- 
tion of his life that his son should be a lawyer. If 
Hans Luther could have foreseen what this going to 
Erfurt would mean, he would most likely have put his 
son to work in one of his iron furnaces and not put 
him in the university. But there was a Guide that 
was leading father and son by a way they knew not, 
and veiling from them a future of which, if they had 
caught a glimpse, they would have drawn back from 
in dismay. John Luther wanted his son to be a law- 
yer. The son was not averse to his father's ambition. 
The Lord willed that Martin should be a leader of 
his people into a broader place, and it was a blessing 
to father and son that the Lord had his way in the 
matter. God's way is always best. 



CHAPTER III. 

Luther at the University. 

The old city of Erfurt, in Prussian Saxony, will al- 
ways be a place of interest to Protestants and to every 
student of history. Associated with it are some of 
the epochs in the life of Martin Luther. In this re- 
spect it is equaled only by Wittenberg itself. The town 
was a thousand years old when young Martin Luther 
came hither, in his nineteenth year, to enter the uni- 
versity. The university itself was nearly two hun- 
dred years old when the young son of Hans Luther 
became one of its many students, and it enjoyed a 
prestige possessed by no other institution of learning 
in all Germany. The old city had its most prosperous 
days during the Middle Ages, when it was the capital 
of ancient Thuringia and when it was strongly forti- 
fied. The cathedral is said to be one of the finest spec- 
imens of Gothic architecture in all Germany. The old 
university buildings are still standing, but the insti- 
tution itself closed the last chapter of its history in 
i8i6. Of its ancient monastic estabHshments, only 
the nunnery of St. Ursula remains. The monastery 
of St. Augustine, where Martin Luther spent some of 
the unhappiest but most useful years of his life, has 
been an orphanage for nearly a hundred years. The 
cell where Martin Luther lived his hermit life, where 
he prayed and struggled and tormented himself after 
the manner of honest eremites, and where he caught 

(32) 



Luther at the University. 33 

the first glimpses of the Hght that he was afterwards 
to carry to others, was kept intact for many years. 
But in 1872 it was destroyed by fire. Erfurt is no 
longer a city strongly fortified and the center of 
learning as in other days, but the prosperity that has 
come to it of late years is the prosperity of commerce 
and trade and manufactures. 

Young Martin entered the university at Erfurt with 
one fact impressed upon him, the full significance of 
which came to him with increasing emphasis as the 
years transformed him from a boy into a man. "My 
dear father," he said, "maintained me there with loyal 
affection, and by his labor and the sweat of his brow 
enabled me to go there." This consciousness was 
worth more to him in after years than many things 
he learned at the old university. But it added grief 
to the sacrifice he made when he decided to turn aside 
from the course his father had marked out for him 
to enter the monastic life. 

With a nature that was at once ardent and perse- 
vering, and with a thirsting after knowledge which 
was at this time the ruling passion of his life, it was 
with all the joy of an intense, ardently aspiring youth 
that he left his parents and the other members of his 
family and journeyed to the seat of the university 
where he was to take his degrees, and from which he 
was to come forth fully equipped for the life work 
for which his "dear father," as he always called him, 
had denied himself and the other members of the 
household. 

At Erfurt Luther took up a full course of study. He 
3 



34 A Life of Martin Luther. 

gave attention to all the several branches of philos- 
ophy, as it was called. The term, as scholars used it 
then, was encyclopedic. It embraced about all that 
men knew or sought to know — the ancient languages, 
mathematics, metaphysics, natural science, and what 
not. History, political economy, and allied studies 
seem not to have had a separate place in the curricula 
of those old schools. The learning of the early part of 
the sixteenth century was not yet out of its swaddling 
clothes. It was the poor, half-starved offspring of an 
unwilling mother, who did not love it and yet was 
afraid to allow it to use its little legs for walking. 
The Arabs had brought figures to Europe, and had 
left the name and the science of algebra with the 
Western nations. But mathematics still waited for 
the principia of Newton. One of the grammars that 
Luther studied was written by an author who lived a 
thousand years before. The jealousy and controversy 
between the Eastern and Western branches of the 
Church and the Eastern and Western divisions of the 
ancient Roman Empire had made Greek almost a for- 
bidden language in the Romish Church, and only of 
recent years was it coming into knowledge again. Er- 
furt, the year after Luther entered the university, led 
the whole world in the publication of the first book 
printed in Greek characters. Astronomy harked back 
a thousand years and more to Ptolemy as its teacher. 
Columbus and other voyagers had settled the fad that 
the earth was round, but Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, 
and Galileo had not yet risen to teach men the near-by 
and far-away secrets of the night season. Luther 



Luther at the University, 35 

himself was taught to beheve that the earth was the 
center of all the systems, and that sun, moon, and 
stars revolved around it. But later in life he learned 
something of the better way of accounting for the 
movements of the heavenly bodies, but was not quite 
willing to accept the newer knowledge. Chemistry 
was little more than the fragmentary facts the al- 
chemists had gathered in their search for a method to 
turn the baser metals into gold. 

The metaphysics taught at Erfurt, and to the study 
of which Luther gave himself vv^ith all the earnestness 
of a man who could never do anything by halves, was 
a mass of abstruse abstractions. It was the day of 
controversy between Realist and Nominalist. Men 
argued themselv'es into much intellectual and bodily 
warmth over the question of objects and qualities — 
whether an object really had qualities, or whether 
qualities were only abstract ideas and existed in the 
object when the mind of the observer put them there. 
Over this question (and if it has not been fairly 
stated, its abstruse absurdity must be the apology for 
the lack of a better statement) the Scholastics wran- 
gled with all the ardor of men who certainly might 
have had a better employment, and whose very con- 
troversies were but a part of that monasticism in 
thought that scholars had borrowed from the teach- 
ings of the Church. Metaphysicians followed Aris- 
totle, but perverted, after the manner of the age, the 
teachings of the old Greek philosopher. Martin Lu- 
ther himself conceived a great horror of this old 
rival of Plato, but why it is not quite easy to explain. 



2,6 A Life of Martin Luther. 

"If Aristotle had not been a man," said Luther with 
characteristic directness, "he would have been the 
devil." At most, the philosophy of the times was 
much like the metaphysics of all times; it was like 
the vision of the poor blind man of Bethsaida who, 
after one touch of the Saviour's hand, saw men as 
trees walking. Certainly Luther was profited by all 
this study, but some of his profiting was the profiting 
of his mind in the strength which it received from all 
this wrestling with nominalism and realism. And his 
study of logic put into his hands a weapon which he 
used with mighty power in his controversy with the 
representatives of the pope in after days. 

Learning was expanding under the broadening day. 
The light of the morning was touching the mountain 
tops. Later it would descend into the valleys. Some 
stood and watched the receding night, and mourned 
at its going. Others faced the rising sun, and were 
glad at his coming. These were the last days of the 
Scholastics and the first times of the Humanists. The 
one were the old fogies of the day; the other were 
the progressives. To the one there could be no new 
truth; to the other there could be no old truth. The 
former were conservative; the latter were destructive. 
But neither were truly constructive. The Scholastic 
believed that little was to be discovered, and nothing 
that was worth while ; the Humanist believed that lit- 
tle was worth while except what he had discovered 
or expected to discover. And since the greatest intel- 
lectual discovery of the times was the learning of 
ancient Greece and Rome, he gloried in this. Scholas- 



Luther at the University. 37 

ticism could not withstand the onslaughts of this old- 
new learning, nor could the faith that had stood for 
it; and so men were not only learning classic Latin 
and the Greek of ancient Athens, but likewise the no- 
faith which cast off the old beliefs as unworthy the 
respect of men of scholarship and intelligence. This 
state of mind led to the most arrant hypocrisy. The 
old school of thought was about ready to be laid away 
in its grave. Popes, cardinals, and prelates had open- 
ly thrown it aside. And into the rubbish heap of 
Scholasticism they threw also their faith in much that 
the Chufch had taught. But pope, prelate, and car- 
dinal were more than willing that the common herd 
of the Church should accept all its superstitions with 
greedy incredulity. A duped laity is always an easy 
prey for a venal priesthood. 

Young Luther studied the new learning with ardent 
devotion. But he escaped the skeptical tendencies of 
this broader scholarship. The faith that had been 
taught him at his mother's knee was too strong to be 
thus shaken. He escaped another tendency of the 
new learning. Men who gloried in Cicero and Vergil 
and the rest came to despise their ignorant contempo- 
raries. In their pedantic narrowness they gave so 
much attention to Latin that they could write that 
ancient tongue, if not speak it, better than they could 
their native German. Charles Spurgeon said that the 
scholars who gave the English-speaking world the 
Revised Version of the New Testament, published in 
1881, understood Greek better than they did English, 
and the scholarship of more than one age has been 



38 A Life of Martin Luther. 

open to a similar criticism. But Martin Luther never 
ceased to be one of the common people. He never 
concealed the fact, but prided in it, that his father was 
a peasant. He had learning, but not the sort that 
puffeth up; and with that learning he likewise had 
the charity that edifieth. 

At Erfurt Luther was brought under the tuition of 
some of the great men of his times. Among these 
was one Jodocus Trutvetter, an honest, learned, ad- 
herent of modified Scholasticism. Some of his old 
teacher's treatises on metaphysics survive to this day, 
and it is to be presumed that time has not added fresh- 
ness to their original dryness. Another one of his 
teachers was Bartholomew Arnoldi, whose only dis- 
tinction is due to the fact that Martin Luther once sat 
at his feet. 

The Germans are distinctively a social people. At 
home and abroad, in the Fatherland or in the far-away 
lands to which many of them have gone, they preserve 
this characteristic. A true German always loves his 
home, his family, and his friends. This social trait 
has often led him into more conviviality than was 
quite temperate, but in his love of beer and wine and 
his pipe there is more of social gratification than the 
desire for stimulants. Who that has been fortunate 
enough to have among his friends a native of the 
land of Luther, can ever forget the cheery voice, the 
broad smile, the hearty laugh, the ready sympathy, 
and the warm hand clasp of his German friend ? Gen- 
erous and warm-hearted, the race, through all the 
long centuries of its dwelling in the north, has not 



Luther at the University. 39 

taken its nature from the snows and ice of its long 
winter, but has caught the sunshine of its shorter 
summers and turned it into social and genial warmth. 
And Martin Luther was a true German. He had in 
full measure the social nature of his people. His stu- 
dent life at Erfurt had its social side. His voice, which 
had won for him the friendship of Frau Cotta, made 
him the welcome companion of many friends and a 
welcome guest in more than one home. Some of his 
college friends were among the most distinguished 
men in Germany in the stirring times that were soon 
to come to Saxony and the neighboring States. Some 
of these were his helpers in the great Reformation; 
others were his bitter opponents. But none who 
knew him intimately at Erfurt, friend or foe, ever 
charged him with intemperance or dissolute habits 
during his college days. As has been already said, his 
was a clean youth. 

It was likewise a religious youth. He used to say 
that prayer was the best part of study. He was a 
dutiful son of the Church. He sought heart comfort 
at her altars, and gladly gave to her the loyalty of 
his honest nature. If he had loved the Church less 
in these early years, he would not have been the great 
reformer in his after days. Always intensive, always 
positive, and believing the teachings of the Church 
with a faith which asked no questions except such as 
sought instruction, one is not surprised that his zeal 
became little less than fanaticism. And in this con- 
nection it may be stated, without anticipating what 
took place later, that he never ceased to honor the 



40 A Life of Martin Luther. 

Church. He did not forget that at her altars he had 
been baptized, and that from her he had received 
much instruction. His war was not so much upon 
the Romish Church as upon the papacy, its tyrannies, 
its usurpations, and its perversion and prostitution of 
the faith of loyal, honest men for its own sordid ends. 
Honest men, who are willing to know the truth and 
ready to accept it when they know it, whose moral per- 
ceptions have not been vitiated by lives of sin, have 
always felt the influences of the divine Spirit. What 
these divine impulses lead to is determined, of course, 
by the knowledge of the individual, his training, and 
his consequent sense of duty; but we may be assured 
that no honest and earnest soul ever yet went fatally 
and finally astray. 

Martin Luther, like Saul of Tarsus, was a chos-en 
vessel unto the Lord. From his youth up, the mark 
of heaven was upon him. Had he turned aside in his 
young manhood into paths of sin, open and inviting, 
then as now, on every side, and had he at any time 
been less obedient to the heavenly vision, he would 
have been less sensitive to the divine leading that was 
guiding his often trembling but always honest foot- 
step along a way that he would never have taken 
at his own choosing. Hearing the divine voice from 
afar, he sometimes missed his way, but in all his wan- 
derings he was seeking to do his Master's bidding. 
The Spirit does not throw a flash light along the whole 
pathway of life. Such light would be too bright for 
human eyes. Its light is like the shining of a lamp, 
not strong nor seen from afar, yet affording the light 



Luther at the University, 4I 

we need as we press forward in the narrow way of 
duty. 

Some of the chroniclers mention various traditions 
connected with Luther's stay at the university. One 
of these is to the effect that one morning he heard that 
a special friend of his, a young man named Alexis, 
had been assassinated. Luther hurried to the spot 
where the victim lay dead, and as he looked upon the 
face of his friend a deep horror of death came upon 
his own soul and a deep conviction of his own un- 
readiness for death. At another time his constant 
application to study brought on a severe attack of ill- 
ness. His condition alarmed his friends, and alarmed 
Luther more. When he was at his worst a good man 
came to him and said: "Be of good cheer; God will 
not suffer you to die now, but will raise you up to 
comfort many souls." One of Luther's intimate 
friends says that this assurance and prediction greatly 
affected Luther, and had no small influence in shaping 
his after course. 

One event occurred at Erfurt which certainly ex- 
erted a determining influence over his whole life. He 
was a great lover of books, and spent much time in 
the library. One day, while looking through some 
shelves in a dark room, he chanced to come upon a 
copy of the Bible. This was the Latin Vulgate. He 
took it down from its place with much curiosity, and 
when he looked into it he was filled with wonder. He 
had never seen a Bible before. All he knew of the 
Bible was what he had heard in the churches. He did 
not know that there was any more of the word of 



42 A Life of Martin Luther. 

God than the extracts which he had heard from the 
Hps of priests. The volume was at once a discovery 
and a revelation to him. If this young student, now 
twenty years old, knew nothing of the Bible except 
what he had heard read in Latin in the churches, what 
immeasurable ignorance must there have been among 
the tens of thousands of his contemporaries who did 
not know Latin! Opening the book at random, his 
eye fell first upon the story of Samuel: the prayer of 
Hannah, her consecration of her young son to the 
service of the tabernacle, the call of the child to the 
prophetic office, and all the several events in a history 
to which men and women have turned again and again 
with never-failing interest. The young student was 
fascinated. He took up the book at every opportunity. 
We may only conjecture as to what he understood of 
what he read, and how far he went at this time in the 
formation of those convictions of truth which con- 
trolled him in his course as a leader of men into a 
better light. One thing is certain — he had discovered 
that there zvas a Bible! 

With this discovery his life could never be the same. 
A blind man, once seeing, can never be content to be 
blind again. One song of the mocking bird bursting 
upon the ears of a deaf man would make deafness a 
torture forever afterwards. One hour with the Bible 
found in the librar}- at Erfurt made Martin Luther 
potentially the Protestant and the reformer. He was 
earnestly seeking and slowly finding the way of life 
more perfectly. As he found it he led others into it. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Luther Becomes a Monk. 

The sixteenth century had reached its fifth year. 
It was to write more history and make more than had 
ten previous centuries. It was the century of motion 
and commotion, of reformation and revolution, of 
transition and transformation, of battle and blood, 
when the minions of the papacy would make martyrs 
of the best men in the Church, of cruel despotism 
and the heartless Inquisition, of desperate and con- 
scienceless effort on the part of the popes to retain a 
power that was never justly theirs. All the nations 
of Western Europe would feel the shock that was 
coming, and the echoes of the mighty impact would 
sound throughout the earth and through all the suc- 
ceeding ages. It was the age of Luther and Zwingli, 
of Knox and Calvin, of Cranmer and the brave but 
ill-starred reformers of France and Spain. It was a 
century of upheaval. The very movements of men 
were like the downrush of an avalanche, the inrush 
of a tidal wave of the ocean, and the outburst of a 
volcano. It was a time of destruction and reconstruc- 
tion. The century found the pope of Rome in su- 
preme sway over the consciences of men; it left him 
forever despoiled of power in the leading nations of 
Europe, and of much of the temporal power and pos- 
sessions that the Roman See had acquired through 
centuries of sacrilegious traffic in the souls of men. 

(43) 



44 ^ ■^*7^ of Martin Luther. 

The cup of Rome's iniquity was almost full, and God 
was raising up the men who would snatch that cup 
from her polluted hands and dash it to pieces. 

It was the summer of 1505. Martin Luther had 
completed his regular course of studies at the uni- 
versity. He had taken his degrees, first as bachelor 
and then as master. This last was equivalent to Doc- 
tor of Philosophy. There was much pomp in con- 
nection with the last-named degree. A torchlight pro- 
cession called on the young doctor and showered con- 
gratulations and tokens of good will upon him. His 
brilliancy and attainments had made him the wonder 
and admiration of the faculty and student body. As 
was expected of all who took this degree, he had de- 
livered some lectures before the classes, his special 
theme being the natural sciences. He would continue 
at the university and study law, as his father wished. 
Meanwhile, however, he took advantage of the sum- 
mer holidays to visit his parents at Mansfeld. We 
may be sure that those long June days, while their 
son was at home, were full of proud contentment to 
Hans Luther and the good Margaret. They had toiled 
and denied themselves that this their firstborn might 
receive what was much rarer then than now — a col- 
lege education. And now their ambition was, at least 
in part, realized. Their son was a Master of Philoso- 
phy. He would become a great lawyer in the course 
of time; and their cup of joy was full. The German 
wife and mother looks well to her household, and of 
course the good Margaret did not let her son return 
to Erfurt without going carefully over his wardrobe 



Luther Becomes a Monk, 45 

and mending and darning and stitching wherever such 
attention was needed by the mother's fingers. Little 
did she dream that when the son went away from 
home this time it would be many a long, weary day 
before he entered that home again. 

We do not know all that passed between Martin 
and his father during this summer visit. It is cer- 
tain, however, that the young man left home without 
expressing any purpose other than to prepare for the 
practice of law. Perhaps Martin did not know his 
own mind fully. He only knew that he was unhappy. 
The religious child and the religious youth was grown 
into a more religious man. Deep questions were stir- 
ring his honest soul. The Spirit was leading, but his 
untrained though sensitive and responsive conscience 
did not know whither he was being led. The one vital 
question, "Am I right with God?" was ever before 
him. And his soul had but one answer: "No!" The 
thought of death was a constant terror to him. It 
was the skeleton head that mocked him at every feast, 
haunted him in his waking hours, and came to him 
like a specter in his dreams. Gk)d was not to him 
the abstraction of the mystics nor the God of love 
revealed in the Bible; he was to this honest young 
man what the Church of Rome had taught him to be- 
lieve — a being of terrible and inexorable justice. The 
thought of Jesus and the incarnation gave him no 
comfort. Was he not taught by the same Church that 
Jesus was an inflexible Judge whose wrath must be 
appeased through the intercession of saints, and who 
could be approached only through the offices of the 



46 A Life of Martin Luther, 

Church? Was not the pope his vicegerent, and every 
priest a creature and agent of the pope, and therefore 
of Christ himself? At times, in his despair, he was 
ready almost to curse God and die. This hopelessness 
was not the rebellion of a soul unwilling to give up its 
sins; it was the despair of a soul willing but im- 
properly taught, seeking in vain to find the Saviour. 
The Spirit still, through all these weary, heart-break- 
ing days and nights, was guiding this true seeker after 
God. Israel did not go directly from Egypt to Ca- 
naan, but journeyed by way of the Red Sea, Mount 
Sinai, and the wilderness. This was the better v/ay for 
God's ancient people. Luther did not pass at once 
from the depths of penitence into the broad and fully 
comprehended light of conscious pardon. It was in- 
evitable that he should go by way of the monastery 
and the priesthood into the full understanding of sav- 
ing truth and its gracious realization in his soul. He 
was to be a soul leader, and soul leaders have always 
been equipped for their work in the school of suffering. 
Luther hungered and thirsted after righteousness. 
Once he had longed for learning; now he longed for 
holiness. Once his ambition had been to acquire dis- 
tinction as a scholar and lawyer; now he aspired only 
to know God. He asked bread of the Church ; it gave 
him a stone. 

According to the teachings of the Romish Church, 
the monastic life is the sum of all righteousness. Its 
saints are not men and women who toil and suffer and 
live the common lot of mortals ; they are always monks 
or nuns or priests or, mayhap, some man or woman 



Luther Becomes a Monk. 47 

who has laid all at the feet of the pope for the en- 
richment of a hierarchy that has always been as greedy 
as the daughters of the horse leech. The way into 
the kingdom, according to its teachings, leads through 
masses and monasteries, the righteousness of others, 
whose works of supererogation constitute the stock 
in trade of the Church and may be obtained of the 
Church for a consideration or through the fires of 
purgatory, over both gates of which the Church 
stands guard. The history of the Catholic Church in 
all the countries and times where and when it has 
had undisputed control over the religious convictions 
of men is a record of facts clearly issuing from these 
blasphemous assumptions. Since the business man, 
the housewife, and the ordinary mortal cannot be 
saints, and since the priest has at his disposal all the 
righteousness one may need, why should one worry to 
be virtuous or honest or true? A lack of any of the 
essential elements of Christian character can be sup- 
plied from the ecclesiastical market. And, apparent- 
ly, the supply never falls short of the demand. One 
might suppose that this second-hand righteousness, 
like second-hand clothes, might be a little musty by 
reason of age ; but since it is acceptable to the Church, 
why should the fastidious receiver have any suspicion 
of its quality, not to speak of its supposed freedom 
from germs? 

Luther's faith at this time was a true transcript of 
the teachings of the Church. Full of superstition as 
it was, it was thus because the faith of the Church 
was full of superstition. One is not surprised that he 



48 A Life of Martin Luther. 

was superstitious ; the surprise is that he was not more 
superstitious. With a faith that was realistic, with a 
conscience that brooked no compromise, with an 
imagination that was vivid and which invested his 
thoughts and convictions with all the verisimilitude of 
life, and with a nature that never faltered in the path 
of deliberate purpose, it was altogether in harmony 
with the logic of his character and the influence the 
Church had over him that he should turn aside from 
the law to enter a monastery. 

Several incidents in his life at this time brought 
his convictions to a focus. Once, at Easter, he had 
gone home for a visit to his parents during the holi- 
days. While eii route the little rapier which he car- 
ried, and which all travelers carried in those days, ac- 
cidentally fell out of its case and severed a vein in one 
of his limbs. While his companion went for medical 
assistance he lay on the ground with the wound tem- 
porarily bound up, realizing the while that his life 
was in grave peril. This experience augmented the 
fear of death we have already spoken of and stirred 
his never-sleeping conscience to tormenting activity. 

But another experience this summer finally deter- 
mined the question as to how he should find the serv- 
ice of his Lord. He was returning from the visit to 
his parents already referred to. It was the second day 
of July, the traditional anniversary of the visitation 
of the Virgin Mary. At the little village of Stottern- 
heim he was overtaken by a fearful thunderstorm. 
These phenomena, terrible always even to those who 
know something of electricity, were more terrible to 



Luther Becomes a Monk. 49 

men in the superstitious age of Martin Luther. The 
flashing lightning and peaHng thunder filled him with 
that awe one feels when he realizes that at any mo- 
ment he may be stricken down to death. Suddenly 
a blinding flash of lightning leaped from the bosom of 
the cloud and buried itself in the ground at his side. 
He was terror-stricken. Trembling from head to foot, 
he prostrated himself upon his knees and cried out : ■ 
"Help, holy Anne, beloved saint! I will be a monk!" 

A man's real faith comes out in moments like this. 
This prayer and this vow reveal the inmost soul of 
Martin Luther at this time. He does not pray to Je- 
sus. The Church has taught him to believe that Jesus 
is not a helper and a Saviour, but an awful Judge. 
His only hope is in the intercession of some saint in 
the far-away heavens, who might have influence with 
this fearful Judge. And he vows to be a monk be- 
cause the Church has taught him that that is the only 
way to sainthood and salvation. It was a rash vow, 
a superstitious vow, and if he had only known better, 
the prayer itself would have been sacrilege. 

The storm passed, the sun came out once more, and 
the young man went on his way to Erfurt, which was 
not far away. When he became calm again, he re- 
gretted his hasty promise to be a monk. But he was 
too conscientious and too superstitious to draw back. 
His vow had been made to Anne, his patron saint. If 
he should break faith with her, he could nevermore 
invoke her help. He must be a monk ! Such was the 
ill faith of this ill-trained son of the Church ! But the 
Lord Christ had better things for this honest man to 

4 



50 A Life of Martin Luther. 

do than the begging of alms for men who could earn 
an honest living by their own labor, and the fasting 
and self-torture of a life that was at once unearthly 
and unheavenly. For a time he let his faithful serv- 
ant walk in darkness, but guided him unerringly the 
while. For centuries before this honest men had spent 
their lives in monasteries, believing that thus they did 
God service, but Martin Luther could not thus serve 
God in the sixteenth century. No bushel in all Ger- 
many, nor in all the world, could hide a candle like 
this throughout a lifetime. 

But the time of Luther's deliverance was not yet. 
The vow so hastily made was deliberately ratified. He 
thought of all that was involved in the steps — the dis- 
appointment of his father, the sacrifice of his life am- 
bition, the popular contempt for monks, the hard, 
heartless life of the monastery, the separation from 
friends, the poverty and beggary of the monastic 
orders; in a word, the giving up of all that is in 
the world, not merely the bad, but the good as well. 
But why hesitate because of these things? Had not 
God called him? Had he not vowed to St. Anne? 
Had he not escaped death in the storm that day be- 
cause he had appealed to her and promised in the 
hour of danger to be a monk? If his faith was re- 
vealed in the hour of his anguish by his prayer and 
his vow, his integrity and steadfastness were evi- 
denced by his after course. With more light his 
choice would have been different. But he did not have 
the light, hence he kept faith with himself. 

Martin Luther did not delay long. Delay was not 



Luther Becomes a Monk, 51 

in his nature. In less than two months the monastery 
of the St. Augustine order at Erfurt had closed its 
gates upon him. He did not take time to consult his 
parents. He did not take his most intimate friends 
into his counsel. It was the call of God, and human 
counsel was not needed. 

One evening he invited some of his friends to his 
apartments for a social gathering. He was full of 
good cheer, and the hours went by in delightful fel- 
lowship. The old songs were sung, the old stories 
told, and wit and humor enlivened the company of 
congenial friends. It was the last time Luther would 
indulge in such mirthful pleasure. When the com- 
pany was at its gayest, the young host told his guests 
of his intention to be a monk. They received the an- 
nouncement in astonishment. He must be only jest- 
ing; but he was not. They sought to dissuade him, 
but he was inexorable. He told them good-by, and 
that night or the next day he knocked for admission 
at the doors of the monastery. He left all his books 
and other belongings behind him, taking with him 
only a copy of the poems of Virgil and another vol- 
ume, the works of Plautus. 

The monks received him gladly. It was an honor 
to their order to receive such a recruit. For a month 
he was kept in seclusion. None of his friends were 
allowed to visit him. During that time he was ex- 
pected to consider well the step he was about to take. 
At any time during these weeks of separation he was 
at liberty to reconsider his decision and return to the 
world. Meantime he wrote to his father, acquainting 



52 A Life of Martin Luther. 

him with what he had done. Hans Luther was deeply 
offended. He wrote his son a bitter letter, denounc- 
ing his course and giving his son to understand that 
he had virtually disinherited him. He even sought to 
exercise his authority as a parent. But all of this 
did not avail to shake Martin's purpose. Such con- 
viction as his could not be shaken by even a father's 
commands. And his spiritual advisers reminded him 
of what the Saviour had said about loving father and 
mother more than him. The breach between the fa- 
ther and the son was not healed in many days, and we 
may be sure that this added to the loneliness and 
struggles of the young man, so full of life and am- 
bition, who had so suddenly turned aside from the 
paths of worldly honor to become a religious recluse. 
Such conscientiousness was heroic. And this was the 
man that God was leading, and who would in turn 
lead others. 



CHAPTER V. 
Luther as Monk,, Priest, and Teacher. 

It was no easy life upon which Martin Luther en- 
tered when he became an inmate of the St. Augustine 
monastery at Erfurt. One of the principles of monas- 
ticism, pagan and popish, has been that the more un- 
comfortable one makes himself in body, the more apt 
he is to be pious in soul. The Augustine order, to 
which Luther attached himself, had no endowment in 
funds or lands; its income was derived from alms 
solicited by its members from house to house. And 
one of the first duties imposed upon the erstwhile 
student of the university and the young Master of 
Arts was to take his bag and go begging upon the 
streets of the city and upon the highways and by- 
ways of the adjacent country. This begging would 
naturally have a humiliating, and therefore salutary, 
effect upon a young man whose besetting sin was nat- 
urally supposed to be pride. This roving mendicancy 
certainly possessed the quality of mortifying a young 
man of sensitive spirit, if it did not unfortunately de- 
stroy his self-respect, and this state of mind was re- 
garded as highly religious. 

Evidently the brethren thought that the first and 
most important thing to do for the young recruit was 
to break his spirit. Besides being sent a-begging on 
the streets, he was given the most menial duties about 
the monastery. He swept the floors, he kept the gate, 

(53) 



54 A Life of Martin Luther. 

he rang the bell; he was at once janitor, porter, and 
sexton. 

His monk's uniform was evidently intended to be 
a means of grace. Over a white woolen shirt he wore 
a black frock, with a black leather belt around his 
waist, and on his head he wore a cowl, or monk's cap. 
A scapulary completed his attire. This was a narrow 
piece of white cloth wound about his shoulders and 
upper body, and was intended to remind him of the 
yoke which the Saviour said was easy, but which these 
religionists made very heavy for the young man. He 
wore this supposed garb of godliness when he went 
about his duties in the monastery or begging on the 
streets or sought his cell of prayer. When he put 
off these clothes, a prayer in Latin was read aloud 
to him, the purport of which was that he might put 
off the old man and put on the new. It is easy to 
imagine that clothes like these were not agreeable to 
a proud young man. These men thought that it was 
not enough to be poor; beggary and possible bodily 
discomfort were essential to godliness. 

But the young man did not draw back or complain. 
He had entered the monastery, not in search of bodily 
ease, but soul peace. He was willing to do even more 
than his superiors required. His yearning spirit made 
him an obedient servant of his order for the sake of 
his Master, whom he saw despite the mists and fogs 
of Romanism. If monks in other ages and in other 
lands had found in the cloisters a hiding place for 
indolence and gross sins, Martin Luther did not enter 
a monastery with any such object in view. And it 



Luther as Monk, Priest, and Teacher. 55 

may be said to their credit that the Augustine monks 
had a better name among the Germans than the mem- 
bers of some orders in other countries. So corrupt, 
indeed, had many of the monks become that the very 
name that tradition has brought down to us is but the 
synonym for indolent, self-indulgent hypocrisy. Most 
men and women who entered the monastic orders did 
so in good faith, no doubt, but imposed upon them- 
selves burdens which the Saviour never imposed, and 
which were contrary to all that is human. Many of 
them broke down under a life that was so unnatu- 
ral, and, falling into sin, concealed their sin under 
the garb of their several orders and degenerated eas- 
ily enough into the most contemptible hypocrites, and 
in some cases into the most open and defiant sinners 
against the laws of God and men. Familiarity with 
sacred things has bred contempt for sacred things in 
many a clerical heart. The high priest entered the 
holy of holies only once a year, and then not without 
a sacrifice. 

Luther did not lose his reverence for the rites and 
ceremonies of the monastic life. To him, then, these 
rites, as well as all the rites of the Church, stood for 
realities. It was this spirit of honest reverence that 
roused his righteous soul to its depths when Tetzel be- 
gan to hawk indulgences from town to town in Ger- 
many. 

Life in the monastery was one dull round of dreary 
and monotonous duties. There were eight different 
times for prayer — horcB, they called them — in the 
course of the day. Every monk was expected to say 



56 A Life of Martin Luther. 

not less than twenty-five paternosters and numerous 
Ave Marias. Fasts were common, and the fare was 
never sumptuous; and each day was a gloomy fac- 
simile of its predecessor. With dingy walls and dingy 
cells, and no flowers, the joy of the springtime turned 
into the cheerlessness of winter; no wife, no sister, 
no hope, no change, no relief; the consciousness of 
sins, real or imaginary, tormenting the soul like a 
whip of scorpions — this, in part, was the monasticism 
to which Martin Luther gave himself in the very hey- 
day of his young manhood. And he never forsook it 
until driven forth by an enlightened conscience to a 
life that was more real and to duties that were more 
genuine. 

Luther, as was the rule, remained on probation 
twelve months before he became a real monk. At the 
end of that time, being adjudged worthy, he was ad- 
mitted into full fellowship in the Augustine order. 
The reception was quite well calculated to impress the 
honest soul of Luther. The vows were solemn, and 
were for the whole of his after life. He promised to 
obey the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, the superior of his 
monastery, and the authorities of his order and of the 
Church, and he pledged himself to lifelong celibacy and 
chastity. Prostrating himself upon the ground in the 
form of a cross, holy water was sprinkled upon him and 
upon the clothes he was to put on. Then the monks 
gathered about him, singing hymns and assuring him 
that he was now as pure as an infant who had just been 
baptized. The ceremony sealed his connection with 
the order of St. Augustine. During the year of his pro- 



Luther as Monk, Priest, and Teacher. 57 

bation he might have receded ; now it was too late. But 
he never had any disposition to go back. He had put 
his hands to the plow. He became more zealous than 
ever. He took a monastic name, calling himself Au- 
gustine. He was afterwards ashamed of this, and 
spoke of it with satirical contempt. He said it was 
like the popes, who always changed their names when 
ascending the papal throne ; and nothing popish suited 
his taste after he once broke with the papacy. He 
took some new saints into his personal calendar, St. 
Thomas among them. He was unremitting in his de- 
votions. If, in the absorption of study, he had neg- 
lected any of the horce, he would make up for lost 
time by sleepless nights given to his prayers. The 
robust constitution which he had inherited from his 
parents was put to the severest tests by the severity 
of his fasts and sleepless nights. 

Meanwhile he gave as much of his time as might 
be to study. He was permitted free access to the Bi- 
ble, and its study constantly enlarged his compre- 
hension of truth. Days and weeks of sunshine are 
needful to bring the warmth of spring to the winter- 
chilled ground; and so, many months and even years 
of study of the Word of God were required to bring 
to the soul of Luther, long overshadowed by the tra- 
ditions of the Church, a clear knowledge of the gos- 
pel. He was long in learning the fallibility of the 
Church and the infallibility of the Bible. 

At first Luther found some peace of mind in the 
monastery. Honest faith even in an error will some- 
times bring temporary rest to the soul, and Martin 



58 A Life of Martin Luther. 

Luther was honest to the core. And who will say 
that this temporary peace of heart may not become 
permanent where men and women have lived fully up 
to the light they have ? But it did not become lifelong 
with Martin Luther. It could not. His study of the 
Bible made permanent soul rest in the rites of Ro- 
manism utterly impossible. 

There are two great personal facts in the gospel. 
The first of these is that man is a sinner. The other 
is that he has a Saviour. The first of these facts 
Luther knew sorrowfully and all too well. The Cath- 
olJ«; Church has never concealed this fact from its 
followers. On the contrary, it has laid unceasing, un- 
merciful emphasis upon it. It is because men are 
sinners, and because the knowledge of their guilt is 
and has always been insisted upon, that poor con- 
science-smitten adherents to the Church have sought 
pardon at the hands of priests and peace at Romish 
altars and in Romish monasteries and convents. And 
millions of money, some of it gathered in unholy con- 
quests, have gone into Romish coffers because men 
were taught by Rome that the pope and his priests 
held the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and only 
those might enter who paid tribute to the gatekeepers. 
The g^uilty consciences of men created the demand 
for the stock in trade handled by these ecclesiastical 
mercenaries. The merits of the Saviour, as well as 
the long-stored-up righteousness of saints, were at the 
exclusive disposal of the "holy father" and those depu- 
tized by him to act as his agents, and since it was 
worth no small consideration to handle these spiritual 



Luther as Monk, Priest, and Teacher. 59 

commodities, the holy father turned his agencies into 
a means of much pecuniary profit. Such a monopoly 
prevented any manipulation of the market by bulls 
and bears in their own interest, and saved the devout 
believer from imposition by greedy middlemen. Such 
considerateness on the part of his holiness toward his 
numerous customers filled many of them with admi- 
ration close akin to worship, and the head of the great 
ecclesiastical supply store was indignant when any 
had the temerity to question the character of his goods 
and deny his right to sell them. His infallible seal 
made any article that he sold or gave away (and some- 
times he was kind enough to give some of his bless- 
ings away) genuine and current in heaven and on 
earth. 

Luther's sense of guilt was persistent and intense. 
It was like the bitter experience of David. Like the 
ancient king of Israel, he could have said : "My sin is 
ever before me." It was this sense of sin that drove 
despairing souls like his to the cloister. But the 
cloister brought him no settled peace. The Church 
said, "Go to the confessional," and he confessed every 
day. He annoyed his confessor with the very honesty 
and fullness of his confessions. He wanted to con- 
fess everything in detail, all he had ever done in all 
his life that was wrong, and all his temptations to do 
wrong as well. His conscience made sins out of temp- 
tations and crimes out of sins. The monks told him 
to do good works, but he said he was a sinner in the 
sight of God and he did not think that anything he 
might do would appease the divine wrath. As he read 



6o A Life of Martin Luther. 

of the justice of God in connection with justification 
his soul drew back in horror. What hope could he 
have from the justice of God? The Church said, 
"Fast," and Luther fasted, at one time abstaining from 
food and sleep almost completely for seven weeks. 
The Church commanded penance, and Luther put on 
a hair shirt and tortured his poor body into cadaverous 
leanness. Once, so tradition says, he was in such dis- 
tress that he shut himself in his cell and did not come 
out for four days. At last one of his fellow-monks, who 
knew something of Luther's state of mind, took some 
of the choral boys of the monastery and attempted to 
enter his retreat. The door was fastened on the in- 
side, and the only way of getting in was to force the 
door. When they entered the cell they found Luther 
lying unconscious on the floor. Forthwith they began 
to sing. The soft music they made gradually brought 
the poor hermit back to consciousness and to life. 
Poor Martin knew that he was a sinner, but he did 
not know that he had a Saviour. But this knowledge 
was to come to him. His night was far spent. The 
day was at hand. 

Hid away in the monasteries of this age, and of 
other ages that had gone before it, were some good 
men who had learned to look beyond the walls of 
their monastic homes and beyond the rites and routine 
of their lonely life to the One who had died for them, 
and, looking, found a life and a light that was not of 
the cloister. Such men as Francis of Assisi and 
Thomas a Kempis were the salt that saved monasti- 
cism from utter corruption, and the light that shed a 



Luther as Monk, Priest, and Teacher. 6i 

Christly illumination into the darkest cells of Romish 
monasteries. In the monastery at Erfurt Luther was 
to find at least one man who had learned the way of 
life more perfectly than the Church taught it. He 
too had struggled with guilt and doubt. And he had 
found the way to peace and salvation by the way of 
the cross. Ananias had led Paul into the kingdom; 
this man was to lead Martin Luther. His name was 
John Staupitz. And he was the vicar-general of the 
Augustine order in Germany. 

Staupitz came of a noble German family, but little 
is known of his early history. He had consecrated 
himself to the monastic life early in his youth, but did 
not find spiritual peace in the monastery. Groping 
in the dark, he at last found the light; and having 
found it himself, he was prepared to help the strug- 
gling Luther. He seems to have been attracted to 
Luther from the very beginning of his acquaintance 
with the young monk. He came to the monastery at 
Erfurt in his regular visitations, and Luther gladly 
opened his heart to him as to a spiritual father. Stau- 
pitz understood his case at once, and he gave him the 
first counsel that brought peace to the long-troubled 
soul of Luther. He told him that repentance, and not 
penance, was acceptable to God; that a sense of sin 
was not an evidence of enmity to God but a different 
attitude; warned him against the danger of exagger- 
ating his sins ; counseled him to study nothing but the 
Bible; and, best of all, told him that Jesus alone can 
save. Furthermore, he said to Luther: *Xove him 
who first loved you/' 



62 A Life of Martin Luther, 

This was a new gospel to Luther, and it was as 
grateful to him as the light of the morning. It was 
the water of life to his famishing soul. 

But the struggle was not yet ended. Luther did 
not as yet fully understand the light that had come to 
him nor the water of which he had but tasted. Shortly 
afterwards he fell sick. His old remorse returned. 
He was ready to despair. An old monk came to see 
him in his cell. Luther opened the depths of his soul 
to the venerable man. Luther's visitor was not skilled 
in dealing with troubled souls, perhaps, but he simply 
said to Luther: "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." 
From his very childhood Luther had known the Apos- 
tles' Creed, and had recited this article of it a thou- 
sand times. Before this it had been to him a far-away 
truth. Now it becomes a living, gracious fact. It 
took out of his mind the error that sinners can atone 
for their sins, or that they can be removed by priestly 
absolution or purgatorial fires. Learning this, Luther 
could never be a blind fanatic again. The light had 
come to his soul. 

Years after this, while reading Paul's letter to the 
Romans, his attention was fixed upon the statement in 
the seventeenth verse of the first chapter, which is a 
quotation from the prophet Habakkuk : ''The just shall 
live by faith." His meditations upon these words led 
to the formation of those convictions relative to the 
great doctrine of the New Testament, the doctrine of 
the great Reformation, and the doctrine of the great 
revival of the eighteenth century — the doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith, 



Luther as Monk, Priest, and Teacher. 63 

Of course Martin Luther did not immediately reach 
a full comprehension of all that he now accepted as 
true. His spiritual eyes were not as yet adjusted to 
the greater light and all that it revealed. For years 
after this he was a devout Romanist, never dreaming 
that he was to lead in a reformation that he would 
perhaps at this time have regarded as an unholy 
schism. 

After some two years spent in the monastery at Er- 
furt, Martin Luther was ordained a priest in the Ro- 
man Catholic Church. It was a great occasion. Hans 
Luther came to see the ordination. The old father 
had been very stubborn in his opposition to his son's 
course. But two of his sons had died in a visitation 
of the plague. He had heard that Martin, too, had fal- 
len a victim to it; and all this sorrow, together with 
the joy he experienced when he learned that his fa- 
vorite son was spared, softened the old man's heart, 
and he was fully reconciled to his son, now to be a 
priest. 

Luther was much impressed with the ordination 
service. But he said in after times, when he thought 
of the words of the officiating bishop, "Take authority 
to offer sacrifices for the living and the dead," that it 
was a wonder the earth did not open and swallow 
them up. 

A year later he went to Wittenberg to take his place 
in the new university just established by Frederick the 
Wise, the good elector of Saxony, so long Luther's 
friend and protector in the stormy years of the g^reat 
Reformation, 



CHAPTER VI. 

Luther at Wittenberg. 

To every Protestant peculiar interest attaches to the 
little city of Wittenberg. Here Martin Luther spent the 
greater part of his eventful life. Here took place the out- 
ward beginnings of the great Reformation. Here was 
the storm center of the great movement during the tem- 
pestuous years of his strenuous life. Here he began to 
preach, timidly and tentatively at first, but later with a 
boldness and a fidelity to the Scriptures and to his 
new-found faith that startled all Germany, and finally 
woke up the sleeping consciences of men from the 
shadow of the Vatican to the shores of the Arctic 
Ocean. Here he posted his ninety-five theses to the 
door of the Church. Here he burned the papal bull of 
excommunication. Here he married and spent most of 
his real home life. Here, after he had served his gener- 
ation by the will of God, and blessed it with a Hfe that 
made it one of the noted generations of the race in all 
its history, he found sepulture. Here in the Schloss- 
kirche rest his ashes, awaiting the resurrection. 

Wittenberg is on the right side of the Elbe River, 
fifty-five miles southwest of Berlin, now the capital of 
the great German Empire. It has never been a large 
city. The population twenty years ago was less than 
15,000. The university where Luther was one of the 
faculty was merged, in 1817, into the University of 
Halle, but the name is preserved in the combined in- 
stitutions. The French, during some of the Napole- 

(64) 



Luther at Wittenberg. 65 

onic wars, broke down the door to the church on which 
Luther nailed his theses, but an iron door has taken its 
place. The house where Luther lived after he left the 
monastery is still preserved measurably intact, and 
travelers who visit the little city are shown many places 
connected with the history of Martin Luther and his 
colaborers. When Charles V. captured the town, a 
year or two after Luther's death, some of his Catholic 
friends pointed out the tomb of the reformer and urged 
him to burn the dead body of the man who had made 
so much trouble for the emperor. 

"I am making war upon the living, and not upon 
the dead," was Charles's reply. The emperor, who 
was unfortunate in having greatness thrust upon him, 
and whom we shall meet again in the course of this 
history, was not wholly bad ; and one is not surprised 
that he, in sheer disgust, gave up the throne for a cell 
in a monastery late in life. 

The University of Wittenberg was established by 
Frederick the Wise, as he was called, in 1502. This 
good prince, while he never openly adopted the faith 
of Martin Luther, nevertheless showed him tolera- 
tion, and saved the reformer's life at the Diet of 
Worms. When Maximilian died, he was offered the 
place of emperor thus made vacant, but declined the 
honor and cast his vote for the young Charles. This 
choice led to the union of the kingdom of Spain and 
the German Empire, and, what is more important in 
its bearings upon the history of Martin Luther, doubt- 
less brought about such relations of cordiality between 
Charles V. and Frederick that the latter was inclined 
5 



66 A Life of Martin Luther. 

to be more lenient toward a man whom Frederick re- 
garded with so much favor. 

Frederick intrusted the selection of a faculty to Stau- 
pitz, the vicar-general of the Augustine order in Ger- 
many, and this judicious ecclesiastic fulfilled the trust 
committed to him with much wisdom. He gathered 
about him a group of competent and learned men, and 
the new institution soon acquired a great reputation 
for scholastic worth. Shakespeare makes Hamlet one 
of its students, and no university in all Europe ex- 
erted a wider influence. Philip Melanchthon was one 
of the teachers, and a venerable man named Pollich, 
who was called by his admirers 'The Light of the 
World," because of his learning, had a place in the 
faculty. And Staupitz did not forget Martin Luther. 
Exercising his authority over the Augustine order, he 
brought Luther from Erfurt to Wittenberg in 1508. 

The instructions to go to Wittenberg were so sud- 
den and summary that Luther did not have time even to 
bid his friends farewell. Taking a final look at the 
cell where he had spent three years that he could 
never forget, he gathered his simple wardrobe, a few 
classic books, his Bibles (he now had two, one of which 
had been given him by Staupitz), and a few other 
simple belongings, and, storing them in his port- 
manteau, hastened to Wittenberg. 

He began his work in his new place with lectures on 
philosophy. The natural sciences, which were in their 
infancy at the time, as we have seen, seem to have been 
the specialty to which he gave his attention. His work 
in the university made it necessary for him to lecture 



Luther at Wittenberg. 67 

on Aristotle, and the old Greek was not a favorite of 
his when he became thoroughly imbued with the spirit 
of the Reformation. He considered Aristotle as es- 
sentially atheistic. 

The study and teaching of philosophy were not 
quite to his liking. From the moment he reached Wit- 
tenberg he longed to give his exclusive attention to 
theology; "but," be added in a letter to a friend, "the 
theology which seeks the kernel in the nut, the pulp 
in the wheat, and the marrow in the bones. However," 
he went on, "God is God, and he will guide us unto 
death." 

He did not neglect his philosophical lectures, but he 
betook himself to the study of theology. He was al- 
ready familiar with the Schoolmen. He had waded 
with more or less profit through what they had writ- 
ten about the questions that had engaged their abstract, 
hair-splitting minds and speculations. And he had read 
and meditated deeply upon the works of St. Augustine, 
the patron of his order. The teachings of Augus- 
tine greatly influenced his opinions throughout his 
whole life. It is easy to trace the effects of Augus- 
tine's theories touching election and freedom of the 
will in what Luther taught and believed. But now, 
as for months before this, he gave precedence in his 
studies to the Bible itself. In order to understand this, 
he applied himself assiduously to the mastery of Greek 
and Hebrew. He was not satisfied to take his knowl- 
edge of the Bible from a Latin translation. 

The next year after he came to Wittenberg, Luther 
took his bachelor's degree in divinity, and in 15 12 he 



68 A Life of Martin Luther. 

took his doctor's degree. These degrees not only gave 
him the privilege, but imposed upon him the duty, of 
lecturing on theology. This was much to his liking. 
He gave attention in his lectures, not to the dry the- 
ories of the scholastics, but to the Bible itself. And his 
lectures attracted immediate attention, and in course of 
time drew many students to the university. 

Up to this time Luther, though an ordained priest, 
had not preached. After going to Wittenberg his friend 
and official superior, the worthy Staupitz, asked him 
to preach in the Augustine Church; and some of the 
authorities say that he was chosen by the University 
Senate as preacher for the college. Luther objected 
strenuously to this arrangement. "It is no small mat- 
ter," he said, "to speak to men in God's stead. Why, 
it would be the death of me before three months." 
Staupitz assured him that it would be a good way to 
die, and the reluctant Luther was constrained to yield. 

The Augustine monastery at Wittenberg had not 
been opened more than two years when Luther took up 
his abode there, and the foundations of the church con- 
nected with it had just been laid. In the square in the 
town was a small wooden chapel, twenty feet wide and 
thirty feet long, the walls of which were ready to tum- 
ble down, and whose whole appearance was unsightly. 
The pulpit of boards, three feet high, was as unsightly 
as the outside of this insignificant building. Here Mar- 
tin Luther began to preach, and here was the birthplace 
of the great Reformation. Like the Master whom it was 
to exalt, it was born in a house little better than a stable. 

Luther's preaching attracted immediate attention. 



Luther at Wittenberg. 69 

He had told Staupltz that he would not imitate his 
predecessors, and he did not. His voice was at once 
far-reaching and musical ; his countenance glowed with 
animation ; he spoke his native tongue with fluency ; his 
imagination was vivid and picturesque; he was pro- 
foundly in earnest, and such earnestness could not fail 
to impress others. He had found the way of life and 
was eager to show it to others ; and he had a message 
for men fresh from the Word of God. It was his ap- 
peals to the Bible itself that really gave him his power 
over men. He expounded the Bible, and his exposi- 
tions were divine truths set on fire by a soul that was 
itself aflame, and by that divine Spirit who never fails 
to place his indorsement upon the gospel. No wonder 
men listened and marveled. They were hungry for the 
bread of life, and here was a man who had it in plenty 
and in purity. ''This man," said the learned Pollich, 
"will put all the doctors to the rout. He will introduce 
a new doctrine. He will reform the whole Church. 
He builds upon the Word of God, and no one can over- 
throw or resist that." Like Caiaphas, but with better 
motives than inspired the old Jewish high priest, Pol- 
lich spoke more wisely than he knew. 

Luther did not preach in the little wooden chapel 
long; in a little while he was chosen city preacher by 
the council of Wittenberg, and in the city church, the 
university chapel, and in the church of the Augustines, 
when it was finished, he found a place and a hearing. 
The common people heard him gladly, and princes 
were among his hearers. His patron, the wise Fred- 
erick, listened to him on at least one occasion. Every 



70 A Life of Martin Luther, 

great reformation and every great revival has begun 
first in the closet and afterwards in the pulpit. Martin 
Luther had prayed to the Father which seeth in secret, 
and the Father which seeth in secret was rewarding 
him openly. The harvest was ripening; the harvester 
was being trained for the reaping. 

Staupitz, who was a very busy man, needed an as- 
sistant in his work as a vicar-general of the Augustine 
order, and called Luther to his aid. This call gave 
Luther a wider field of usefulness. He visited the 
monasteries of the Augustines, and carried with him 
the deputed authority of his chief. These visitations 
gave him opportunity to learn many facts as to the 
conditions of the people as well as the members of his 
order. And his visits were not perfunctory nor rounds 
of social feasting and enjoyment. He did not mince 
matters where he found any wrongdoing. In some 
places he says he found that the monks were in gross 
ignorance of the Bible; "they knew more about St. 
Thomas than they did St. Paul." In one monastery he 
found much dissension, and, regarding this as due to the 
lack of firmness on the part of the superior, he forth- 
with discharged that ofiicial from his place. Stern as 
he was, he was not intentionally unkind or unjust. 
He knew how to use both salt and salve. Withal he 
was a busy man. His life now was full of the activity 
for which he was fitted by temperament and training, 
and the great common sense, which was always his, 
stood him in good stead in his multipHed duties. He 
lectured his classes on the Bible, which was his fa- 
vorite work ; he visited the monasteries ; he kept up his 



Luther at Wittenberg. 71 

devotional habits. He said he needed two secretaries 
to keep up his correspondence. He often spent whole 
nights in the preparation of his lectures. He did not 
slack in his preaching, and all the while he had that 
strength of soul which comes from an enlightened and 
personal faith in Jesus Christ. He was a ritualist 
still; but the mass, the holy communion, penance, and 
priestly absolution were to him the shadows of deeper 
reaHties. The true foundation was laid; the false 
superstructure would fall away in the course of time. 
His heart was in the kingdom; his head would come 
in by and by. The Spirit's witness is not necessarily 
an indorsement of men's creed ; it is an indorsement of 
their faith in Jesus Christ. A genuine Christian expe- 
rience is a sure teacher of righteousness, but it is not 
at once an infallible guide into correct theology. 

As already stated, Luther spent most of his life 
after this period at Wittenberg. But a year or so 
after he went to the university there he was summoned 
back to Erfurt for a time. Here he took the same aca- 
demic standing as at Wittenberg and continued his lec- 
tures. After a year and a half he returned to Witten- 
berg, and from this time onward for many years he 
was identified with the university there. 

An occasion came about this time when Luther's 
fidelity and fortitude were put to the test. The plague 
broke out at Wittenberg. This fearful pestilence of 
the Middle Ages, which sometimes depopulated whole 
districts and which the superstitious people of those 
dark days regarded as a visitation of divine wrath, or 
a scourge from the devil himself, evidently originated 



72 A Life of Martin Luther. 

in unsanitary conditions, and disappeared from West- 
ern Europe with the advance of Christian civilization. 
The people of Wittenberg fled before the pestilence, 
and Luther was urged to take flight from the city. He 
flatly refused to do so, however, and came through the 
visitation unharmed. Unwittingly he was setting in 
operation moral forces which would ultimately banish 
this scourge from his own land, as well as from all 
lands where the better way that he had found was ac- 
cepted by the people. True Christianity, like its Au- 
thor, has gone over the earth healing the sick. 

In 15 1 1 Luther enjoyed a privilege that he greatly 
appreciated, and one which exercised no small influ- 
ence over his after life. Some difference of opinion, 
and even very serious differences, but the full nature 
of which is not explained, had arisen between Staupitz 
and some of the Augustine monasteries. The matters 
were so important that it was deemed best to submit 
the questions at issue to the pope, and Luther was 
commissioned to go to Rome on this business. The 
journey was made on foot. He was accompanied by 
another monk and a layman, who went along as helper 
and companion. The pedestrians found lodging and 
entertainment by the way in various monasteries. 
Crossing the Alps into Lombardy, they tarried for 
some days in a monastery of the Benedictines. This 
monastery was rich in endowments, and the simple- 
minded Luther was astonished at the luxurious life of 
the inmates. Their home was a palace, with rich 
furnishings. Marble, silk, and dainties were every- 
where, and the brethren fared sumptuously every day. 



Luther at Wittenberg. ^3 

Wine flowed freely, and meat was eaten every day, re- 
gardless of all the restrictions of the Church. Here 
was gilded monasticism, seclusion without sacrifice, a 
hermitage without hardships. The honest Luther ven- 
tured to suggest to his hosts that they should abstain 
from meat at least on Fridays, but the hint was not 
taken kindly. The porter told the Germans that it 
might not be safe for them to stay longer, and the 
travelers took their journey toward Rome. These 
men from the north saw many things by the way that 
interested them greatly. The fertile fields of fair Italy 
were a revelation of beauty to them; but the hot sun 
of this southern land was too much for Luther, and 
when he reached Bologna he was taken seriously ill. 
For a time he thought he would die, and his old dis- 
tress of mind came back to him. But he soon reas- 
sured himself with the words that had given him com- 
fort on so many occasions, "The just shall live by 
faith," and, quickly recovering, went on his way. 

No Mohammedan pilgrim ever approached Mecca, 
and no devout Jew ever came in sight of Jerusalem 
with more enthusiasm than Martin Luther felt when 
he first viewed Rome. Falling upon his knees, he ex- 
claimed : "Holy Rome, I salute thee !" 

"The sorrow of disillusion" awaited him. It had 
been better for his faith as a Roman Catholic if he had 
never looked upon the Vatican. He declared after- 
wards that he would not have missed seeing Rome for 
a hundred thousand florins. But for his visit there, 
he said, he might have feared that he had misrepre- 
sented the pope and his doings and the doings of the 



74 ^ -^^/^ of Martin Luther, 

priests. "But as we see, we speak," he added. In his 
after life he made the indignant confession that he 
ran about from church to church "Hke a crazy saint," 
beheving all the absurd things that were told him about 
reHcs and images and saints; and he rejoiced that it 
was his privilege, he added, to read mass in the holy 
city. He almost regretted that his parents were still 
alive, for if they were dead he could now pray them 
out of purgatory. But the better faith that was born 
within him revolted at some of the superstitious non- 
sense that he was taught to believe, but which no priest 
at Rome had any faith in at all. Once, when climbing 
on his knees up the stairway that was said to have led 
to Pilate's judgment hall, and up which the Saviour 
was reputed to have gone to his sentence of death, up 
which devout Romanists still climb, he rose from his 
knees, exclaiming: "The just shall live by faith." 

He heard many things in Rome that shocked him. 
The city still reeked with the foul odors of the Borgias. 
He heard vague hints of Alexander, who, less than a 
score of year before, had occupied the papal chair: of 
his children, his brother's murder, of the unspeakable 
incest charged to him, and heard other things that were 
enough to drive him from popery forever. But the 
spell was not yet broken. 

At the time of Luther's visit Julius H. was pope. 
This ecclesiastic was somewhat better than Alexander, 
but he had his own characteristics. Among them was 
an overmastering desire to extend the papal power 
and possessions. And he was not content to do this 
by political intrigue and popish treachery; these were 



Luther at Wittenberg. 75 

too slow and uncertain, and he called the sword into 
requisition. Occupying a seat which St. Peter was 
supposed to have been entitled to, and claiming 
power upon the assumption that the Master had ac- 
corded that power to Peter, he considered himself 
as entirely absolved from the restrictions placed by the 
Master upon Peter when he said to the brave but mis- 
taken apostle in the garden : "Put up . . . thy sword . . . ; 
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." 
Julius made war, won battles, extended his domain by 
the use of the sword; and still sat in Peter's seat. 
Once, when fighting the French, he was reading a 
prayer in behalf of the success of his army, when news 
was brought that his soldiers had been defeated. 
Uttering a bitter curse, he threw the prayer book down 
and exclaimed : "Art thou become a Frenchman ?" It 
was before this sacrilegious usurper that Luther came 
to present his matters. Nothing is recorded of this 
audience, nor of the decision rendered by Julius, and 
we know nothing of the impression made upon Luther 
at the time by what he saw of the pope. Julius was a 
man of affairs and held a strong hand upon the munic- 
ipal government of Rome, keeping the streets clean 
and furnishing good police protection ; and the general 
impression left on Luther's mind was that he was at 
least a good civil executive. And at this time Luther 
was as devoutly loyal to all the teachings of the Church 
as to the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. 

That which surprised and bewildered Luther most 
was the reckless irreverence of the priests. Rome was 
honeycombed with skepticism. The man who believed 



^6 A Life of Martin Luther. 

in Christianity was considered a fool. Men made open 
ridicule of everything sacred. Once, when Luther was 
celebrating mass with some of the Roman priests, one 
of them whispered impatiently to him : "Hurry up ! 
Make haste and send the Son home to his mother, our 
Lady !" And another priest boasted in his presence— 
and laughed at his smartness — that on one occasion 
he had changed the words of consecration in the com- 
munion to: "Bread thou art, and bread shalt thou re- 
main !" and "Wine thou art, and wine shalt thou re- 
main !" Luther carried the memory of this profanity 
through the after years, and the memory was no small 
factor in moving his honest soul to righteous revolt 
against the power of Rome. 

Of course Luther saw the places of greatest interest 
about Rome, and his knowledge of the classics gave 
him a keen relish for all the historic sites about the 
ancient and renowned city. His soul was stirred with- 
in him as he walked through the dark passages of the 
catacombs, where tens of thousands of the early Chris- 
tians were buried, many of whom had died in martyr- 
dom. He looked upon the Vatican too, where the Ro- 
man pontiffs had held court like kings, and, like the 
worst of kings, have sometimes practiced all the infa- 
mies of royalty. And he saw St. Peter's, not yet com- 
pleted, and to finish which Leo afterwards sold the in- 
dulgences. This fated structure, while it was to stand 
forth as the greatest monument of papal taste and 
pride, was nevertheless almost the undoing of the pa- 
pacy itself. Rome was full of ancient ruins and mod- 
em splendor; of ancient learning and modern art; of 



Luther at Wittenberg. 77 

ancient faith and modern skepticism, and of ancient 
superstition and modern renaissance. Lutlier saw and 
felt much of all this, and went away from the famous 
and infamous city with mingled impressions and mem- 
ories which lingered painfully and pleasantly through 
all his after days. 

Turning his face to the north, he and his compan- 
ions retraced the long road over the sunny plains of 
Italy, the dizzy heights of the Alps, and the wooded 
hills of Southern Germany, and were once more at 
home in the Fatherland. And once more he took up 
his duties at Wittenberg, a wiser man than when he 
went away and, mayhap, a sadder one. 

It was providential that Luther did not visit Rome 
earlier in his life. As sincere as the sunlight, with a 
will that never halted halfway in its pursuit of an un- 
dertaking, with an energy that was dynamic, he might 
have made a blaspheming Voltaire or a fanatical Igna- 
tius Loyola; he could never have made a hypocrite. 
The deeper spiritual knowledge that had come to him 
a few years before had taught him that rites and forms 
were but accessories to faith, and not essentials of 
faith ; and, learning this, the mockeries of Italian priests 
and the hollow pretenses of Romish popes did not dis- 
turb his faith in the everlasting Word of God. The 
leaves were shaken and some dead branches fell off, but 
the tree stood firm. 

Meantime the age was preparing for the man, and 
the man was preparing for the age. And the Lord of 
the age and of the man was waiting and ruling and 
overruling until the fullness of time should come. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Luther and His Age. 

Martin Luther was no mere opportunist; neither 
was he the product of his times. Of course the spirit 
of his age — that spirit of restless, reckless adventure 
and discovery; of rebellion against the established or- 
der of things and of resistance to the tyranny of pope 
and priest and prince which was abroad in the Western 
nations in the closing decade of the fifteenth and the 
opening years of the sixteenth century — thrilled this 
man of destiny and stirred him to action. And of 
course the idolatrous degeneracy of the Church, its 
profanation of the most sacred things and its prosti- 
tution of the faith and conscience of its helpless and 
credulous dupes for the sake of its own sordid and 
selfish ends, appealed mightily to the honest soul of 
Martin Luther and gave direction to his convictions 
and to his course. But he was not the creature of his 
environments, nor the selfish politician who seeks to 
foment social and civil disorder for his own advance- 
ment to place and power. Nor was this great-souled 
man in any sense the spiritual offspring of Rome. Such 
a mother would have spurned such a son from her 
breast. Indeed, she was honest enough to disclaim and 
disinherit him; and since she claimed to be the only 
mother of the children of the Lord, she denounced 
Luther as a child of the devil. 

But this was a wonderful age, this age in which 
Martin Luther was born and lived and labored, and 

(78) 



Luther and His Age. 79 

upon which he left his impress so deeply. It was the 
age of increasing light. The day was breaking. For 
a thousand years there had been twilight — not the 
short twilight of the tropics, but the twilight of north- 
ern latitudes, which is neither night nor day. Men 
slept or were half awake or walked in their sleep. 
Men sa^y ghosts. Faith degenerated into superstition. 
The Church of Rome, like many another silly mother, 
told her credulous children stories of witches and 
ghosts and wicked beings in other ages, and thus 
hushed into a troubled sleep her devotees, or moved 
them to bloody and hopeless warfare against the in- 
vaders of the holy land and other wicked heretics. The 
lurid glare of a martyr's bonfire frequently illumined 
the darkness for a season, and, going out, left the 
world in deeper darkness than before. Men's worst 
passions ran riot. They thirsted for each other's blood, 
or gloried in the triumphs of wars of conquest. Na- 
tions rose and fell. Western Europe was one great 
battlefield. The hordes of Northern Europe had laid 
waste the fair fields of Italy, overthrown the power 
of the Roman Empire in the West, and had then 
fallen to quarreling among themselves over the spoils 
of their conquests. Northern and Southern blood 
mingled and made new races. The Italian and Ger- 
man, the Goth and the Gaul, the Norman and the 
Briton, the ancient Spaniard and the fair-haired den- 
izens of the far North were no longer alien peoples 
to each other. Charlemagne built an empire that 
for a time rivaled the imperial splendor of ancient 
Rome. The German Empire, to which Charles V., 



8o A Life of Martin Luther. 

the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, succeeded 
Maximilian about the time that Luther had stirred all 
Europe with his theses, was the only remaining part 
of this ancient kingdom at the beginning of the six- 
teenth century. Knight-errantry had served its ro- 
mantic and chivalrous mission. The Crusades had 
given a sacred outlet for men's warlike passions. The 
Turk, after a temporary expulsion, had once more oc- 
cupied the holy city, and Constantinople, the last re- 
maining stronghold of the waning power of Rome, had 
been overthrown by these insatiate and fanatical con- 
querors. And the Turk was at the very gates of Vi- 
enna and threatening the very life of Western Europe. 
The Moors, after many years of power in Spain, had 
been driven by Ferdinand, at the head of the united 
armies of Castile and Aragon, across the Straits of 
Gibraltar, or made slaves in the lands of their former 
possession and power. Spain had been welded into 
unity by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Britain, conquered in turn by Roman, Saxon, Dane, 
and Norman, had incorporated into its people and its 
national life that which was best in the character of its 
several masters, and was itself rising to the mastery 
of an empire that would rival in strength and duration 
all the empires of all the ages. France, after many 
vicissitudes, was strong, with the restless, irresistible 
spirit of ancient Gaul. Germany, always loving liberty 
and never long a conquered land, did not lose its na- 
tional characteristics by reason of its merging, at its 
own instance, into the great empire over which Charles 
V. had been selected to reign — an empire which swept 



Lutlier and His Age. 8l 

from the shores of the Mediterranean on the south to 
the Baltic on the north, with only the coast of Portu- 
gal and France breaking the continuity of its sea- 
shore. The map of modern Europe was beginning to 
take shape. Confusion was giving place to order, 
chaos to cosmos. 

There is a never-failing charm about the Middle 
Ages. To them the imagination turns again and again. 
It was a time when men made more poetry than they 
wrote. Mystery, uncertainty, half-knowledge — these 
elements of the poetic and romantic inspired and lim- 
ited men's actions in these dark centuries, and these 
same elements attract us to that half-known period with 
a fascination which is a blending of uncertainty and 
curiosity. Knowing a better day, we are glad that we 
did not live a thousand years ago; and yet the con- 
dition of the world ten centuries ago appeals to us with 
all the power of a half- forgotten past, of days long 
gone, and of men who once lived and loved, and suf- 
fered and died, and whose memory is like the dream- 
ing visions of the night season. 

The awakening, long delayed, came at last. A nota- 
ble change came on during the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries, and it came rapidly. Within a hundred years 
men made more progress in arts and learning, and in 
every department of life, than they had made in a 
thousand years. It was a time of invention, of dis- 
covery, and of progress. 

The old story that Edward III. used gunpowder 
the first time it was ever used in Europe, in the battle 
of Crecy, may not be accurate, but it was about this 
6 



82 A Life of Martin Luther. 

time that men began to appreciate the possibilities of 
this combination of sulphur, saltpeter, and charcoal. 
The Greeks doubtless knew something of it, the Chi- 
nese certainly were acquainted with it long before this ; 
but it was to all intents and purposes a European dis- 
covery, made by Friar Bacon, or some one else, during 
the fourteenth century. And, as paradoxical as it may 
seem, the discovery of gunpowder lessened the hor- 
rors of war, and was in the interest of liberty and hu- 
manity. With its use decisive battles were fought 
with less slaughter of life, and the mailed knight could 
no longer strike terror into the hearts of scores of his 
enemies. 

The mariner's compass became known to Western 
Europe about this period. As in the case of printing 
and gunpowder, the compass had been in use in China 
many centuries before this period. But unfortunately 
for the Chinese, they have been slow to acquaint other 
nations with their inventions and discoveries, as well 
as slow in accepting the inventions and discoveries of 
other nations. There is at least a probability that the 
use of the compass was among the treasures of knowl- 
edge brought back from China by Marco Polo, that 
pioneer traveler in the Far East, whose career was a 
real romance. 

The use of the mariner's compass revolutionized 
navigation. The ships men build and the commerce 
they carry on in those ships have always been among 
the real tests of a nation's greatness. The Phenicians 
had been the navigators and discoverers of ancient 
times. Their ships had plowed well-nigh every 



Luther and His Age. 83 

square mile of the Mediterranean Sea, and they had 
ventured outside its waters into the broader expanses 
of the Atlantic. But with their passing the bold spirit 
of maritime adventure also passed. The bold Vikings 
of the Far North roamed the seas for booty, rav- 
aged the fair shores of Southern Europe, and pushed 
their adventurous prows across the Atlantic. But 
they added nothing to the world's knowledge and noth- 
ing to its civilization. Men dreamed of a fair At- 
lantis beyond the sea, but none were courageous enough 
to brave the perils of the great ocean to find it. 

But with the compass, later the quadrant, and finally 
the chronometer, the great Atlantic, the far-off Pa- 
cific, and the tropic seas that laved the shores of dis- 
tant India and China were no longer to terrify timid 
and ignorant men, but were to unlock their secrets and 
their treasures to adventurers in search of wealth and 
discoverers in search of knowledge. The Portuguese 
found their way around the Cape of Good Hope; 
Christopher Columbus, the ItaHan, with three small 
vessels under the Spanish flag, sailed across the At- 
lantic in 1492 and discovered America; and all Eu- 
rope woke up to the fact that the world was larger 
than it had been dreamed of before. The discovery 
of the New World made a new world out of the Old 
World. After this men could never be the same. The 
lethargy of the centuries was gone, the sleep of ages 
was past. Men were as much startled as they would 
have been if the sun had flashed his first rays from 
the west instead of the east. Indeed, the day had come 
to the West, if not from the west. 



84 A Life of Martin Luther. 

The discovery of America was, like other discov- 
eries in this age of marvelous transition, mightily con- 
ducive to a larger humanity as well as to a larger 
world. Many who crossed the Atlantic came only to 
rob and to murder and thus to enrich themselves with 
ill-gotten gold. But the God of all the earth over- 
ruled their covetousness and made them nation build- 
ers. And so through succeeding centuries light has 
shone back from the New World upon the Old World. 

About the middle of the fifteenth century came pos- 
sibly the greatest invention of that or any other age. 
This was the art of printing. It is not material as to 
who the real inventor was. The Dutch claim that the 
honor belongs to Laurens Coster ; the Germans assert 
the rival claims of their countryman, John Gutenberg. 
Possibly both the German and the Hollander were in- 
dependent and original inventors of the art. 

It is impossible to measure and weigh the influence 
of the printing press. Think for a moment what the 
world was before the days of printing. There were no 
books except those that were written by hand. Bound 
volumes were rare, libraries rarer still, and thousands 
and tens of thousands lived and died without ever see- 
ing a book. And newspapers were unknown. A fam- 
ily Bible, even if the Church of Rome had allowed the 
people access to the Word of God, would have been an 
impossible privilege to a poor man. But the evolution 
and revolution of this age of change and progress, so 
wonderful then, and more wonderful now, left as a 
part of its heritage to succeeding ages an invention 
that has transformed the world. While the art of 



Luther and His Age, 85 

printing met the need of the centuries, it made impera- 
tive the need of the age of its invention for that moral 
and spiritual reformation which even then was find- 
ing its first foretokens in the lands where the first 
books, one of them a Bible, came from the rude press 
of those early times. 

The invention of printing gave a mighty impulse to 
the revival of learning that had already begun — first 
in Italy, where centuries before the lamp of learning 
had gone out, and later still throughout Western Eu- 
rope. 

It must not be supposed that the Middle Ages were 
utterly destitute of learning and of scholars. On the 
contrary, there were many learned men among the 
priests and monks of those long centuries. The 
Church had been a jealous guardian of learning. And 
long before the period we are considering many uni- 
versities had been founded in the different countries of 
Western Europe. 

The university (it was called sHidium generate at 
first) seems to have had its origin first in France, and, 
like the schools of ancient Athens, had its beginnings in 
a nucleus of students who rallied around some noted 
scholar. Later Italy, afterwards England and Ger- 
many, and finally Spain, established these schools of 
largest scope, and many of them were ancient institu- 
tions in the days of Martin Luther. 

But the scholarship of the Middle Ages was itself 
narrow. Its horizon was fixed by the ipse dixit of the 
pope. The Church fostered it and dominated it. Re- 
ligiously It was an age of rites and rosaries, of masses 



86 A Life of Martin Luther, 

and missals, of ceremony and sacramentarlanlsm. And 
the learning of the times was ruled and limited by the 
same spirit that ruled the Church. The Schoolmen 
were anxious to learn only that which others had 
learned. The old quite satisfied them. With them the 
Ultima Thule of scholastic attainment had been 
reached. Even if there were fields of undiscovered 
knowledge, why seek to explore them? The Inquisi- 
tion awaited the propounder of a new theory or the 
finder of a new fact, if the theory or the fact contra- 
vened the accepted theories of Rome. The authority 
that pronounced the Copernican system heresy in after 
times had no strong Protestant opposition to contend 
with in those benighted centuries. Its dictum was 
absolute. The Roman Catholic Church has its schools 
and its scholars of great learning in many lands to-day, 
but these schools and scholars owe an unacknowledged 
debt to Protestantism for breaking ofiF the fetters with 
which ancient Romanism bound its scholars and its 
schools. Of course the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages 
were not satisfied with the mere possession of what they 
knew ; so they played hide and seek with the abstrusi- 
ties of metaphysics, rang out the changes on the major 
and minor premises, and flattered their pride by knock- 
ing down imaginary windmills. A scholarship that 
honored the astrologer but tortured the astronomer; 
that was ready to accept the gold of the alchemist, if 
he had ever found any, but was ready to consider the 
discoveries of chemistry as the revelations of the devil ; 
and that believed all the absurdities of witchcraft but 
refused to accept the Bible rather than the deliver- 



Luther and His Age. 87 

ances of popes and councils — such a scholarship could 
bring little good to the scholar and less to his contem- 
poraries. 

The final overthrow of Constantinople by the Turks 
in 1453 led to consequences quite outside the purpose 
of those greedy conquerors. Unwittingly they were 
helping to build up a civilization in the West which 
would ultimately overthrow their power in the East. 
This consummation has not yet come, but the Turk 
holds his place in Europe to-day by the sufferance of 
the very nations which centuries ago his ancestors 
sought to drive from their native lands, and by fol- 
lowers of the very religion which Mohammed sought 
to crush. 

Many refugees from Constantinople sought a home 
in the West, and most of them settled in Italy. They 
brought with them a knowledge of the ancient Greek 
tongue. Rome had made the Latin tongue the lan- 
guage of the Church, also the language of the schools. 
Practically everything in the way of literature that 
was written for a thousand years was written in 
Latin. This had its advantages, and also it disad- 
vantages. It gave all scholars access to all the litera- 
ture of the several countries of Europe, but in turn re- 
strained men from writing real literature. This is 
usually written in one's native tongue. The real liter- 
ature of modern times began to be written when Dante 
and Petrarch and Boccaccio began to write in Italian, 
and Rabelais began to write in French, and Chau- 
cer began to write in English. Gothe could not have 



88 A Life of Martin Luther. 

written "Faust" in English; Shakespeare could not 
have written "Hamlet" in German, and neither could 
have produced his masterpiece in Latin. 

The new learning, for such it was to Western Eu- 
rope, spread from Italy to all the nations adjacent, to 
Germany also, and to England as well. Its coming pro- 
duced a freedom of thought and investigation that 
broke away from the old landmarks of faith and 
thought; and by reason of its very freedom it was 
calculated to turn men's resentment and rejection of 
the errors of Rome into disgust with all religion. Leo 
X. was a patron of the new learning, and he is cred- 
ited with saying that "Christianity is a profitable 
fable." 

The age called aloud for the saving power of the 
gospel. The nations needed the lesson of the golden 
rule. Discoverers going forth to add new continents 
to the knowledge of men needed to carry with them 
the knowledge of the true God, that they might impart 
that knowledge to heathen nations, and not the semi- 
paganism which substituted the worship of Roman 
images and saints for the worship of wooden idols 
or the worship of the sun. Gutenberg and Caster and 
their successors needed the whole truth of the divine 
Word in order that they might appreciate the printing 
press's wondrous power for good as well as for evil. 

Macaulay expresses the opinion that the religion of 
the Middle Ages was better adapted than any other 
to the people of those times ; that the rule of the popes 
was better than the rule of the cruel and unscrupulous 
kings and princes ; and that the monastic life afforded a 



Luther and His Age. 89 

needed retreat for scholars and monasteries a safe de- 
pository for the literature of the earlier times. This 
view may be accepted without lessening the force of 
our contention that a reformation was essential to the 
very life of the Church and to the perpetuity of Chris- 
tianity. 

The times had changed. The mind of the age was 
alive and alert. Men were thinking, and every thought 
was a question. The old wine skins were ready to 
burst. The new wine could not be poured into them 
with safety. To meet interrogation with denuncia- 
tion, to answer a question as to faith with a so-called 
infallible dogma of a general council or a papal bull, 
to burn Wychfs Bibles and John Huss's body — these 
were not the arguments that could satisfy the awakened 
mind of this awakened age or meet the quest of 
honest men who longed to know the way of life more 
perfectly. 

But Rome did not know the times. With the blind- 
ness of Rehoboam and the madness of Pharaoh she 
refused to yield to the inevitable. Leo laughed at the 
trouble over the indulgences, and said it was "just a 
squabble among the monks." And as if all this was 
not enough, Rome added sin to folly. The fifteenth 
century, according to the testimony of all the author- 
ities, was the darkest period in the history of the 
papacy. It was the age of the Borgias, and every re- 
spectable historian blushes as he records the doings 
of these human monsters. No wonder Martin Luther 
had not the slightest hesitation in calling the pope anti- 
christ and found a literal fulfillment of the prophecy 



90 A Life of Martin Luther. 

in the second chapter of First Thessalonians in the pre- 
tensions of the pope, and saw the scarlet-robed "mother 
of harlots" in the Romish hierarchy. 

The Reformation must come, and did come. And 
it was fit that it should find its earliest tangible mani- 
festation in Germany. A thousand years before this 
the Germans had trodden under foot the power of 
ancient Rome. And Germany had never corrupted 
Christianity. Her people had accepted it as it had been 
brought to them. And Martin Luther was a German, 
honest, pure-blooded, and, like his Lord, one of the 
common people. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Luther the Preacher. 

There are epoch-marking and epoch-making events 
in the lives of individuals. There are such events in 
the history of nations; and in the annals of the race 
there have been days of destiny, after which the 
world was never the same as before. These crises 
are not always days; sometimes they are but mo- 
ments. Sometimes they cover a series of events; 
often they are determined by a single act. 

It is not difficult to find the epochs in Luther's Hfe; 
and since his life affected so many other lives, it is 
not difficult to name in his history some of the great 
events in modern history. His visit to Rome was 
one of the pivotal facts in his life. He went to Rome 
a devout Catholic; he came away from there with less 
faith in Romanism, but with more faith in the Bible. 
In speaking of the matter afterwards, he said that 
the nearer one approached Rome, the sorrier Chris- 
tians he found. It was a popular saying, he adds, 
that when a man went to Rome the first time he 
went in search of a knave, on his second visit he found 
him, and on his third visit he brought the knave away 
with him under his own clothes. Lately, however, 
men had become so clever that they brought the knave 
away with them the first time they went. 

Luther did not return to Germany a knave or a 
skeptic, but he came back to his native land with a 
better understanding of that wonderful passage in 

(91) 



92 A Life of Martin Luther. 

Romans, "The just shall live by faith," which he de- 
clared had been to him the gate to Paradise. The 
doctrine of salvation by faith was henceforth to be 
the thought of his life, the theme of his preaching, 
and the sum of his theology. At last he was finding 
that other fact in the gospel — ^men have a Saviour. 

It has already been stated that Luther became a 
Doctor of Theology in 15 12. This was no mere hon- 
orary degree such as colleges confer upon preachers 
these days. The Doctors of Divinity in those times 
studied for their degree, and were expected to be 
real teachers of divinity. 

Luther did not seek this degree on his own motion. 
His friend Staupitz urged it upon him. He used to 
point out a pear tree in the courtyard of the monastery 
where he and Staupitz discussed the matter. He had 
been made subprior of his monastery, and it was his 
wish to give his whole attention to the duties of this 
position. Staupitz insisted that there was work to do 
in the Church that required young and strong men. 
Luther demurred upon the alleged ground that he 
was not strong in health and would not live long. 
Staupitz refused to accept this. Luther declared that 
he was too poor to meet the necessary expense. Stau- 
pitz answered that the elector would furnish the 
money. Luther still objecting, Staupitz met his re- 
luctance by declaring that it was Luther's duty to do 
what Staupitz, his vicar-general, commanded. Luther 
always honored authority, and this last reason had a 
determining weight with him. He declared after- 
wards, in some of the troublous days that came to him. 



Luther the Preacher, 93 

that if he had known what was before him in conse- 
quence of this step, not ten horses could have dragged 
him into it. 

Evidently Luther considered this doctor's degree 
as carrying with it more responsible duties than any 
he had assumed up to this time, though to us it would 
seem merely a fuller commitment of himself to work 
that he had already done in some sort before this. 
His hesitation in the matter did him no discredit, and 
by it he did not intentionally dishonor God. His 
quest for personal salvation had carried him into the 
monastic life; this step made him an officially author- 
ized teacher of the way of salvation to others. From 
this place and work he drew back, not in rebelHon, 
but because of a sense of unworthiness. It was the 
same spirit that made the prophet of old cry, "I am 
a man of unclean lips!" and that made Peter say to 
the Master : "Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, 
O Lord." In the kingdoms of this world men seek 
the office; in the kingdom of heaven the office seeks 
the man. 

The interest Staupitz took in Luther is pathetic. 
The old vicar-general appreciated the worth and work 
of the young Saxon, and guided his faltering foot- 
steps in the right way. But he could not follow his 
pupil in that way ; the old faith was too strong on the 
old man. He went at last and ended his days in a 
convent. The fire he had unwittingly helped to kindle 
burned too brightly for his aged eyes. 

It was in October, 15 12, that Luther received his 
doctor's degree. He hesitated beforehand; but when 



94 A L^f^ of Martin Luther. 

the decision was past, all hesitation was gone. Among 
the solemn pledges he took when he received his de- 
gree was one to defend the gospel with all his strength. 
The character of a vow depends always upon the 
character of the man who takes it. Others had taken 
this vow. To some of them it meant simply a solemn 
formality: to Luther it meant an obligation which 
ultimately made him the great reformer. In after 
times, when justifying his course in protesting against 
the errors of Romanism, he referred to the oath he 
had taken upon the Bible itself to defend it from all its 
foes. 

The next five years of Luther's life were full of 
work. He instructed the monks in his monastery, he 
preached to the students, to the townspeople, and to 
the monks, and he lectured the classes on theology. 
He studied diligently, and gave the tremendous en- 
ergies of his virile nature to the tasks that came with 
the days and the seasons; he presented soul and body 
a living sacrifice to his Master and to the Church. 
These years were the last stage of his preparation for 
the work that was to mark his life as one of the great 
lives in the world's history. 

His lectures and sermons attracted wide attention. 
There was novelty in them. It was not the novelty 
of new truth, but the novelty of the old truths, long 
forgotten. He turned away from the methods and 
platitudes of the Schoolmen. He called no man master. 
The Word of God was his inspiration and his au- 
thority. He called the Church back to the Bible. 
This was the foundation and stronghold of his faith. 



Luther the Preacher, 95 

He sought to make it the faith of others. He had 
seen the Light, he had heard the Voice; following 
these, the way grew brighter and broader as he went 
onward. 

Luther began his first lecture on the Psalms; and 
some of his earliest expositions are still preserved in 
manuscript. These first comments were crude, and 
show how much he learned in the course of time as 
he went on with his studies and lectures. Like the 
early fathers of the Church, he was disposed to give 
a spiritual interpretation to even the least important 
passage in the Songs of David and the other sacred 
poets. He found, or sought to find, Christ every- 
where. This method of interpeting the Psalms, and 
especially some of the other books of the Old Testa- 
ment, has led to some things that are so grotesque 
as interpretations that men of sense ought at once to 
have seen their absurdity. Luther learned better as 
he went on. Later he turned his attention to the 
epistles of the New Testament, especially Romans 
and Galatians. This last book became his lifelong 
favorite. He called it his Katharina Von Bora. His 
commentary on this epistle, which was the outgrowth 
of his lectures, is one of the classics of the Church. 
And his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 
bore fruit centuries afterwards in its influence over a 
life that was little less epochal than his own. 

On the 24th of May, 1738, John Wesley, almost 
heartbroken because of a sense of sin, went to a little 
Moravian meeting late at night. In this little gather- 
ing some one, whose name is not recorded, read from 



96 A Life of Martin Luther, 

Luther's preface to the book of Romans. As the 
reader read Luther's words about the nature of faith, 
and its necessity as the only condition of salvation, 
Wesley listened and wondered; and he tells us his 
experience in these memorable words: "I felt my 
heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, 
Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was 
given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, 
and saved me from the law of sin and death, and I 
testified openly to all there what I then first felt in my 
heart." 

And so the great reformer led the great revivalist to 
the understanding of the doctrine of justification by 
faith, and to an experience he himself had obtained 
two centuries before. And the two being dead, yet 
speak. And thus this doctrine, the despair of the 
Pharisee, the puzzle of the formalist, and the joy of 
the children of God, was the key that opened the 
kingdom to Paul the apostle, Luther the reformer, and 
Wesley the revivalist. 

Luther's preaching and lectures clarified and crystal- 
lized his convictions. It is one thing to know divine 
things by experience; it is another thing to be able so 
to formulate these truths as to impart them to others. 
Luther knew by experience, as well as by the Bible, 
that men are saved by faith and faith alone. With 
this truth as a starting point, he went out in search of 
all other truths that helped to establish this cardinal 
doctrine of his creed and his experience. And he was 
quite prepared to reject everything as utterly false that 
in the least, by implication or inference, contradicted 



Luther the Preacher, 97 

this doctrine. He sought to understand and explain 
the nature of the law on one hand, and grace on the 
other. He soon saw that law is inflexible. It does 
not and cannot, in the very nature of things, make 
provision for pardon; its demand is for perfect obe- 
dience. Violation of one law cannot be atoned for by 
obedience to another law. Violation at one time can- 
not be expiated by obedience at another time. Viola- 
tion of the law of God by one individual cannot be 
met by the obedience of another individual. Since all 
men have violated the moral law as well as the law 
of love, and since men cannot naturally keep the law 
of God, the way of salvation must be found in grace. 
Good works were not the condition of justification; 
they were the fruits of justification. The sinner must 
be justified before his works could be justified. The 
tree bore the fruit, and not the fruit the tree. Christ 
died for men. Faith in his atoning mercy was the one 
essential condition of salvation. Luther, as we have 
already said, was much influenced in his beliefs by 
the writings of St. Augustine, but he did not follow 
the teachings of the old father in a blind, unquestion- 
ing way. 

This was well. If Luther had accepted all that St. 
Augustine taught, especially with reference to the 
doctrine of justification by faith, he would never have 
been the great reformer. The seeds of the great Ref- 
ormation were not in Augustinianism. Augustine 
taught a doctrine of justification but it was not the doc- 
trine of St. Paul nor of Martin Luther. Augustine be- 
lieved that there was an infusion of righteousness, a 
7 



98 A Life of Martin Luther. 

divine impartation of worthiness, before the sinner 
exercised justifying faith. With this imparted right- 
eousness the sinner could not only believe, he could 
also do all that was required, and even more. Accord- 
ing to this teaching, there was no righteousness of 
faith, but rather the faith of righteousness. The sin- 
ner paid his debt with currency freely furnished and 
stamped as genuine by the divine Creditor. This in- 
volved no pardon at all ; it was a quid pro quo trans- 
action. This doctrine involved, at least logically, sev- 
eral notions, no one of which Luther accepted unre- 
servedly. 

Among others it carried with it the doctrine of pre- 
destination. This belief, which was a modified form 
of ancient fatalism, colored Luther's views touching 
human free agency. He was not fully prepared to ac- 
cept the freedom of the will as true. But his own 
consciousness of sin and of pardon, and his deep sense 
of personal responsibility, did not allow him to give 
such adhesion to the teachings of Augustine on this 
point as to cause him to give it a conspicuous place in 
his creed. 

The belief in the possibility of works of superer- 
ogation was one of the germs of Augustinism. And 
the germ had borne abundant fruit in Romanism. Its 
harvest had added greatly to the spiritual capital of 
the popes, and no part of the papal assets had been 
more profitable. It brought ready cash in the market 
every time and everywhere. About this time the ex- 
igencies of the papacy became so great that a large 
stock of this spiritual commodity was offered for -sale. 



Luther the Preacher. 99 

and at a price that was so reasonable that even poor 
people could purchase it. It was also offered at auction 
at an upset price. If Luther had believed this particu- 
lar part of Augustine's teachings, he might have had 
the sale of indulgences so zealously exploited by John 
Tetzel a little while after this ; and some of his enemies, 
David Hume among them, have asserted that the rea- 
son for his indignation against the indulgences was 
anger, forsooth, that he and his order were not al- 
lowed to sell them. 

Antinomianism was likewise a part of the logic of 
Augustine's view of justification. Luther never for 
one moment gave credence to this belief. He did not 
understand nor teach that faith is a substitute for 
obedience to the law of God ; faith he regarded as the 
condition of pardon for disobedience. He beheved 
that guilt grew out of disobedience, and nothing but 
pardon could remove guilt. This pardon was offered 
to men through the grace of God in Jesus Christ. 

In the following words Luther tells his experience 
in connection \yith the doctrine of salvation by faith : 

Though as a monk I was holy and irreproachable, my con- 
science was still filled with troubles and torments. I could 
not endure the expression, "the righteous justice of God." 
I did not love the just and holy Being who punishes sinners. 
I felt a secret rage against him. I hated him because, not sat- 
isfied with torturing by his law and the miseries of life poor 
sinners already ruined by original sin, he aggravated our 
sufferings by the gospel. But when by the Spirit of God I 
understood these words [he refers to Romans i. 17], when I 
learned that the justification of the sinner proceeds from the 
mercy of God by way of faith, then I felt myself born again 
as a new man, and I entered by an opened door into the very 



loo A Life of Martin Luther. 

paradise of God. From that hour I saw the precious and 
holy Scriptures with new eyes. I went through the whole 
Bible. . . . Truly this text of St. Paul's was to me as the 
very gate to heaven. 

There is potential martyrdom in a conviction and 
experience like this, and there is prophecy in it as well. 
Whenever the Holy Spirit writes a truth like this upon 
a human soul, and in such letters as those written upon 
Martin Luther's conscience, he serves notice by the 
writing that the man must stand for the truth thus 
written, will have to suffer for this truth, and may 
have to die for it ; and no man is prepared to go forth 
as a soldier of the King who is not armed with such 
convictions. The iron had entered Luther's soul. The 
test of his faith and his fidelity was at hand, and he 
did not waver. The honesty of soul that made him a 
monk and a true servant of the Church, under a Guid- 
ance to which he had never been disloyal, was soon 
to find for him the full meaning of the experience that 
had come to him, and the real work for which his life 
from his childhood up had been but a preparation. 

But Luther did not know all this. It was well that 
he did not. Such knowledge would have hindered the 
preparation, if it had not rendered it utterly abortive. 
Luther was still a zealous Romanist. He discarded 
and denounced many of the silly traditions of the 
Church, rejected the invocation of saints for temporal 
blessings, and called in question such things as did not 
commend themselves to his judgment and seemed to 
contradict his cherished doctrine of salvation by faith. 
He did not have the least doubt in his mind as to the 



I 



Luther the Preacher. lol 

Infallibility of the Church. The scales had not yet 
fallen from his eyes. He had not yet learned that 
Romanism is not founded upon the Bible. He believed 
in the Church because he believed in the Bible. He 
was ready to condemn what he considered as the here- 
sies of the martyr-reformer, John Huss. He used 
against Huss the very arguments that were after- 
wards used against himself. He had been appointed 
vicar of the Augustine monasteries in Thuringia, eleven 
in number, and he visited these regularly in his of- 
ficial capacity. Meanwhile his teachings with refer- 
ence to salvation by faith alone were making no small 
stir among the German scholars and ecclesiastics. He 
modestly called It Augustinianism, but it was really 
Protestantism. Men of learning gave him their friend- 
ship. George Spalatin, chaplain to the elector, and who 
had been a college mate at Erfurt, helped to gain for him 
the favor of the wise Frederick. John Reuchlin, the 
greatest Hebrew scholar of the age and the author of 
the first grammar of the Hebrew language, admired 
him, and to him Luther was much indebted for pre- 
paring the way for the Reformation by what he wrote 
concerning the Rabbins. And Erasmus, the leader of 
the Humanists, heard of him and appreciated his 
worth and work. 

In 15 16 Martin Luther began to use the printing 
press for the dissemination of his teachings, a means 
he found mightily helpful in his after work. In his 
reading he had found the sermons of the mystic 
Tauler, who lived In the fourteenth century. These 
sermons, like other things he read, helped him; but 



102 A Life of Martin Luther, 

the man's independence of thought and conviction 
saved him from following slavishly this man, or any 
other man. A little tract by Tauler, which Luuher 
called "The German Theology," was the first publi- 
cation in German that Luther ever gave to the world 
to which was attached his own name. A little while 
after this he issued a commentary on the seven peni- 
tential Psalms. This was really the first of his own 
writings to sea the light through the medium of the 
printed page. His own experience helped him to ex- 
pound these ancient prayers. 

And all the time he was preaching almost every day, 
and often thrice a day. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Luther's Theses. 

The year 15 17 had come. Martin Luther was in the 
prime of his middle manhood. He had won his de- 
grees. He had gained his footing in the world of 
scholarship. He was a trusted leader of the Augustine 
order. He was a faithful servant of the Church. He 
had for himself settled theoretically and experimentally 
the fundamental doctrine of salvation by faith. He 
had helped others with his preaching, and some had 
died in peace because they embraced salvation under 
his instruction. He had sown the seeds of the great 
Reformation, which, like thistledown, had been borne 
upon the winds to unexpected places. Without con- 
scious premonition he was approaching the crisis of 
his life. 

The sale of indulgences in Germany aroused him 
from what might have been the lifelong, peaceful 
sleep of a loyal Romanist. The bellowing of the monk 
Tetzel startled him into wakefulness. 

Leo X. had succeeded the war-loving Julius upon 
the papal throne. He was more pacific than his pred- 
ecessor, and much more decent than Alexander. He 
loved learning, encouraged the fine arts, and was in 
sympathy with the advancing enlightenment of the 
age. But he was at heart a skeptic, and needed money 
to finish St. Peter's Church. Jesus was a "fable ;" he 
had no faith in him himself. Others did, however, and 
he would turn their credulity into cash. He wished 

(103) 



I04 ^4 Life of Martin Luther. 

to complete St. Peter's; it would be a monument to 
Italian art. The Church had taught its votaries to be- 
lieve in popish and priestly absolution; he would turn 
that teaching to account. He would sell indulgences. 
It would be really more humane to allow poor wretches 
who believed they had sinned to pay a sum of money, 
large or small, according to their means, rather than 
to do the hard penance attached to priestly absolution, 
or, finally, endure the pains of purgatory throughout 
countless ages. And so money would flow abundantly 
into the papal treasury, and St. Peter's could be com- 
pleted. 

The doctrine of indulgences was not new to the 
Church. Like so many other features of Romanism, 
it was a corruption of apostolic custom. The early 
Church was rigid in the enforcement of discipline. 
This fact comes out in the case for which the apostle 
reproves the Corinthians in his first epistle to them, 
and in his appeal for mercy to the party involved in 
the second epistle. 

Expulsion from membership was not infrequent 
when the needs of discipline required it, but this was 
the extreme penalty. The early Church claimed no 
right to go farther than this. And then, and now, the 
Church has never had the right to do more than this 
in the enforcement of penalty. Sometimes the pun- 
ishment went no farther than suspension. In all such 
cases, and in the case of expulsion itself, if the guilty 
party evinced genuine penitence, there was a remission 
of the penalty and he was restored to membership. 
The apostles and the apostolic Church never claimed 



Luther's Theses. lo^ 

the authority to forgive sins or to enforce any sort 
of punishment after death, purgatorial or otherwise. 
In the course of time, as the popes of Rome began 
to add to their power and assumed all the executive 
and judicial prerogatives of the ecclesiastical body, 
and as the doctrine of purgatory was adopted by the 
Church, originating most probably in the Persian wor- 
ship of fire, the popes claimed the right to remit tem- 
poral penalties, and finally to relieve from purgatorial 
punishment. This remission was what v/as called an 
"indulgence." This indulgence freed the recipient 
from penance, and came in time to be accepted as free- 
ing the dead from purgatory itself, or at least shorten- 
ing their stay in this place or state of supposed purg- 
ing from all that is sinful. The next step was easy 
enough : penance and purgatorial fires found commuta- 
tion in the payment of a prescribed sum of money to 
the pope or his authorized agents. For many years 
before the time of Martin Luther indulgences had 
been granted upon certain conditions, such as the visit- 
ing of sacred places, or doing certain ritualistic things, 
such as crawling on one's knees up Pilate's staircase 
at Rome and the like. It must be said to the credit of 
Leo X. that he did not originate the sale of indulgences ; 
he simply carried the business farther than any of his 
predecessors had done. It is possible, too, that he may 
have claimed greater merit for the indulgences sold 
under his direction than any previously placed on the 
market. Here is an authentic copy of the indulgences 
sold by the monk Tetzel by the thousands in Germany 
at the beginning of the great Reformation : 



io6 A Life of Martin Luther. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on thee [here the name 
of the purchaser was inserted] and absolve thee by the merits 
of his most holy sufferings ! And I, in virtue of the apostolic 
power committed unto me, absolve thee from all ecclesiastical 
censures, judgments, and penalties thou mayest have merited; 
and, further, from all excesses, sins, and crimes thou mayest 
have committed, however great and enormous they may be 
and of whatever kind, even though they should be reserved 
to our holy father, the pope, and to the apostolic see. I efface 
all the stains of weakness and all traces of the shame thou 
mayest have drawn upon thyself by such actions. I remit the 
pain thou wouldst have had to endure in purgatory. I receive 
thee again to the sacraments of the Church. I hereby rein- 
corporate thee in the body of the saints, and restore thee to 
the innocence and purity of thy baptism, so that at the moment 
of thy death the gate to the place of torment shall be closed 
against thee and the gate to the paradise of joy shall be opened 
unto thee. And if thou shouldst live long, the grace con- 
tinueth unchangeable till the time of thy end. In the name 
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
The brother, John Tetzel, Commissary, hath signed this with 
his own hand. 

This precious document was most assuredly a 
"plenary indulgence." It pardoned all sins, past, pres- 
ent, and to come. It released from all penalty, ecclesi- 
astical, purgatorial, and heavenly. By a single stroke 
of the pen it made a Christian out of a thief, a mur- 
derer, or a blasphemer. It virtually abrogated all law, 
human and divine. It closed the gates of hell forever 
against the vilest sinner who paid for it. It opened 
wide the gates of heaven to the most abandoned 
wretch who would chink the change into Tetzel's 
money box. 

Surely no being but the devil himself ever before 



Luther's Theses. I07 

or since ventured to speak or write such unspeakable 
profanity. And all this in the name of the holy Cath- 
olic Church ! And, worse still, in the name of the Holy 
Trinity ! 

Catholic writers admit now that there were abuses 
in connection with the sale of these indulgences. But 
Rome has never officially repudiated these indulgences 
nor the profane mountebank who sold them in the 
Catholic Churches under papal authority. And it was 
because Luther appealed to the pope to stop the sale 
of these indulgences that he was put under the ban of 
the Church, and escaped the stake only because the 
papacy could not lay its vengeful hands upon him. 
And because others since then have believed as Luther 
did, and have refused to bow the knee to the Roman 
pontiff and the Romish power, they have faced the In- 
quisition and the fires of martyrdom; and "semper 
idem" is the proud boast of Rome. It was reserved 
for the nineteenth century for a general council to 
declare that the successors to the infidel, Leo X., are 
infallible. Leo, then, must have been infallible. 

Possibly the conclusion reached in the preceding 
sentence may be too hasty. Let us see. Is the pope of 
Rome infallible ex officio, or was he made infallible by 
a decree of the General Council ? Did the council that 
sat in 1870 make Pius IX. infallible, or did it merely 
recognize a preexistent fact? If papal infallibility de- 
pends upon the decree of a council, then the council 
must be infallible ; but if an infallible council makes an 
infallible papacy, does it not part with its own infalli- 
bility? Is it infallible when it thus surrenders its own 



io8 A Life of Martin Luther. 

infallibility? If a general council is ever infallible, 
is it not forever infallible? If it is not infallible al- 
ways, is it infallible at any time? Since a general 
council cannot make an infallible pope without sur- 
rendering its own infallibility and thus proving that 
it is not infallible at all, then the pope of Rome is es- 
sentially infallible. If this reasoning be correct, then 
Leo was infallible, Alexander Borgia was infallible, 
and the female who is said to have occupied the papal 
chair for a time, becoming a mother while pope, was 
infallible. Then since the popes are said to be infal- 
lible when they set forth the doctrines of the Church, 
and since Leo X. was announcing a doctrine of the 
Church when he authorized the sale of indulgences, 
and since one infallible pope cannot contradict another 
infallible pope, it would be highly inconsistent for the 
Romish hierarchy to condemn or disclaim the action 
of Leo in throwing these indulgences on the market. 
An infallibility that changes with every occupant of 
the chair of St. Peter would not be consistent with it- 
self. Some things are suggested to the mind by con- 
trast, and when studying this matter of the sale of in- 
dulgences one is apt to think of the case of Simon 
Magus, the sorcerer, who offered Simon Peter money 
for the power to bestow the Holy Ghost upon men 
by the laying on of hands, and Peter's answer: "Thy 
money perish with thee !" But the infallible Leo could 
quite easily reverse the fallible Peter (no general coun- 
cil had elected Peter pope) and accept the money that 
came to him from his duly authorized agent, John 
Tetzel. 



LiUJur's Theses. 109 

But the story of these indulgences has not all been 
told. They were not merely efficacious in the case of 
the living by reason of the fact that they secured pardon 
from all sin, past, present, and future, and assured 
the ultimate salvation of those who bought them ; they 
availed even for the dead. Tetzel, with the skill of 
the modern spellbinder, appealed pathetically to the 
living in behalf of the dead. Fathers and mothers, 
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, children 
and grandparents were in purgatory. Back from this 
spiritual limbo they cried out for help to their earthly 
relatives : *'You can help us, and you will not !" And 
then the veracious Tetzel would exclaim: "These im- 
prisoned souls, your loved ones, will fly away to heaven 
just as soon as the money rattles in the box !" 

And of course the money rained into the hands of 
this trusted servant of the pope and the Church. What 
mattered it if he was a bit loose in his morals? No 
sinner could bestow divine pardon upon other sinners, 
since he, "in virtue of the power vested in him," was 
forgiving sinners right and left, and was anxious to 
forgive all who would pay the price of pardon, he was, 
in the very nature of things, not amenable to the law 
of God or man, and could go into taverns and drink to 
drunkenness and indulge his lust in houses of ill fame. 
True, such conduct had been specially forbidden by 
those who had given him his authority, but these high- 
er officials could not take away from him with the left 
hand what they had given him with the right. Was 
he not earning honest money for the Church? Was 
he not preparing a shelter for the bones of the holy 



no A Life of Martin Luther. 

apostles? Did he not earn all he received? Was he 
not morally immune ? He would go where he pleased 
and do what he pleased. He was spending his own 
money. 

Back of Tetzel in^the sale of these indulgences was 
Albert, Archbishop of Mayence and Magdeburg. Wit- 
tenberg itself was in Albert's diocese, and he was 
therefore Martin Luther's superior, to whom he was 
of course responsible. At twenty-seven Albert had 
reached this high office. His early promotion had 
fostered his natural ambition. When he was made 
archbishop he had paid, as others had done, a good 
price for his office, which he of course received from 
the pope. This price was covered up by a little piece 
of fiction. When a priest was made an archbishop he 
received a pallium. This insignia of office is worn by 
the pope all the time, but the archbishop wears it only 
on state occasions. It is a band for the neck woven of 
white lamb's wool, with black embroidered crosses 
with bands attached, one hanging down in front and 
the other down the back. Albert paid thirty thousand 
gulden, approximately twelve thousand dollars, for this 
inexpensive regalia. Catholic writers claim that the 
pope does not really sell these pallia, but that what un- 
sophisticated people would call a price demanded and 
received is only a contribution to the pope. 

This papal paraphernalia is supposed to have some 
resemblance to the breastplate worn by the Jewish high 
priests, and to remind its wearers of the interest the 
Great Shepherd takes in his flock, and consequently 
the interest the undershepherds should take. One 



Luther's Theses. ill 

critically disposed might think this fragmentary gar- 
ment had the quality of antithetic suggestion and in- 
spiration, but of course such conjectures as this are 
out of place in sober history. 

Albert was a man of princely blood and princely 
pretensions. He kept a royal retinue about him. His 
court was kingly. Poverty and beggary are quite good 
enough for monks and friars, but popes and Romish 
dignitaries seem not to have regarded it as specially 
needful in their moral equipment. The overrighteous- 
ness of the mendicant orders added to the stock in 
trade of the Church. It furnished a part of the basis 
upon which indulgences were issued to specially needy 
and willing sinners. Albert did not have the money 
to pay for his pallium and to meet the necessary ex- 
penses of his way of living, so he had recourse to 
the money lenders. The Messrs. Fugger, the Roth- 
schilds of the sixteenth century, accommodated him. 
But men who lend money usually expect to be reim- 
bursed, and young Albert found himself hampered 
and handicapped with debts and the importunities of 
creditors. A happy thought came to him: he would 
strike a bargain with the pope by which he would be 
allowed to have a monoply of the sale of indulgences 
in Germany. He would pay the pope half of the pro- 
ceeds, and his own half, after deducting the necessary 
expense of the business, would pay his debts. A 
scheme that carried such liberal profits to the pope, 
such pecuniary profits to himself, and such moral 
profits to the people commended itself at once to his 
judgment. Only one other thing was needed: he must 



112 A Life of Martin Luther. 

find a man who could push the business successfully. 
And he found the man. The individual intrusted with 
this matter was the Dominican monk, John Tetzel. 

This historic individual was the son of a jeweler, 
and was born at Leipsic near the middle of the fifteenth 
century. He was therefore well advanced in years 
when he was placed in the responsible position of sell- 
ing indulgences. He was well fitted by character and 
capacity for his work. He was an orator, he was full 
of energy, and he had lived a vicious life. He was the 
father of a large family of illegitimate children, one 
of whom he carried with him openly on his rounds. 
On one occasion he had barely escaped being thrown 
into the Elbe for some of his misdoings. He was just 
the man Albert needed. 

Tetzel's progress from place to place was like the 
journey ings of a king. A cavalcade accompanied him. 
When he approached a city or town, civil and ecclesi- 
astical officials went out to meet him, together with a 
great company of men and women and children. With 
these he entered a church. A red cross was set up 
near the altar, draped with a banner bearing the papal 
arms. Close by was a strong iron chest for the money. 
Tetzel held forth daily. He pleaded, he cajoled, he de- 
nounced, and all the while did a thriving business. 
Accompanying him were the agents of the Messrs. 
Fugger, ready to collect their share of the archbishop's 
portion and apply it to his debts. The iron chest was 
constantly echoing with the sound of silver as it 
dropped from the hands of ready purchasers of in- 
dulgences. Sometimes the coin was gold. There was 



Luther's Theses, 113 

a regular schedule of prices. Pardon for some kinds 
of sin came higher than others. Six ducats were de- 
manded for the sin of adultery. The collection box 
grew heavier as the consciences and pockets of guilty 
sinners grew lighter. Tetzel had a brow of brass. 
He bellowed, he roared, he thundered. Men trembled 
with fear of purgatory, and came down with the cash. 

Modern Catholic writers have admitted that great 
abuses and irregularities accompanied the sale of in- 
dulgences at , this time, and the faithful and zealous 
Tetzel was even in his lifetime made the scapegoat 
of the infamous system. The Roman legate sharply 
rebuked him for his misconduct, he was threatened 
with the displeasure of the pope, and he was retired 
to an out-of-the-way monastery. And then the most 
creditable fact in his whole history took place — ^he ac- 
tually died of a broken heart. Meanwhile the Romish 
hierarchy has never even unto this day disgorged any 
of the cash that Tetzel obtained wrongfully, as was 
claimed at the time — that is, by going beyond his in- 
structions in the sale of indulgences. Possibly it might 
be impertinent to inquire where the pope of Rome got 
his right to sell or grant indulgences. The contention 
of Martin Luther that he did not have this authority 
was the onus of his guilt, according to the judgment 
of the Romish power. Very naturally popes do not 
like to have their authority questioned. Are they not 
infallible ? 

Of course there were good men in the Catholic 
Church at this time, as there have always been, and 
these were grieved by this wholesale barter of indul- 
8 



114 ^ ^^f^ of Martin Luther. 

gences. Naturally they asked : "Does God love money 
better than he loves souls? Why does the pope con- 
dition the release of a soul from purgatory upon the 
payment of a piece of money? Is this merciful?'^ 

This sale of indulgences had its grotesquely humor- 
ous side. Sometimes the Church was made to suffer 
in its revenues by a perfectly logical conclusion on the 
part of those who purchased these letters of release. 
The wife of a shoemaker had bought one of these 
documents against her husband's will. Some time 
afterwards she died. Her husband buried her without 
asking the priest to say mass for her. The priest com- 
plained to the magistrate, and the husband was brought 
before the civil officer. 

"Is your wife dead ?" asked the magistrate. 

"Yes, sir," answered the husband. 

"Why did you have her buried without a mass ?*' 

The shoemaker produced the indulgence. "If this 
does not free her from purgatory, then the holy father 
has defrauded me. If it does, then the priest is try- 
ing to deceive me." 

This logic satisfied the magistrate, but possibly not 
the priest, and the shoemaker went his way. 

Tetzel himself was made to feel as well as see this 
same logic. On one occasion he had harangued the 
people in his usual loud-mouthed way, when a Saxon 
gentleman came up to him and asked : "Can you grant 
me an indulgence that will take the sin out of an act 
that I am anxious to do?" 

The enterprising but unsuspecting Tetzel assured 
him that he could. 



Luther's Theses. 1 15 

"Well," said the gentleman, "I have an enemy that 
I am exceedingly anxious to punish. I do not wish 
to kill him, but I wish to punish him severely. I will 
give you ten crowns if you will give me the indulgence 
I want." 

Tetzel, with the true instinct of a trader, saw that the 
gentleman was unusually anxious for the desired paper, 
so he demanded more than the gentleman had offered. 
Finally a bargain was struck for thirty crowns. 

Later, when Tetzel and his party took their journey 
to another town, this Saxon gentleman waylaid him 
with his servants, and gave Tetzel a flogging such as 
he had hardly received in all his life, and the precious 
money box was also taken from him. Afterwards, 
when Tetzel complained to a magistrate and the party 
who had administered the castigation was brought to 
trial, he exhibited the indulgence he had received from 
Tetzel and the case was dismissed. 

All Germany was talking about these indulgences. 
They were handed about like bank bills. Accounts at 
taverns were settled with them. They were used as 
stakes in games of chance by Tetzel and his compan- 
ions. Among the superstitious (and Rome has never 
taken many pains to save a people from superstition) 
they found ready sale and ready credence. But some 
mocked, others scoffed at the Church itself, and the 
most sacred things and names were brought into open 
contempt. Meanwhile the great good sense of the 
German people saved them from a full and unqualified 
acceptance of all the consequences of this ecclesiasti- 
cally inspired anarchy. 



Ii6 .A Life of Marthi Luther. 

Luther heard about Tetzel and his work. "God will- 
ing," he said, "I'll punch a hole in that drum." 

The Elector Frederick would not allow Tetzel to 
enter his territory. He did not utterly discredit the 
doctrine of indulgences himself; in fact, he had re- 
ceived some such concessions from the pope in con- 
nection with some of the relics he had gathered at 
Wittenberg ; but he was not prepared to allow his peo- 
ple to be mulcted wholesale by Tetzel. And no doubt 
there was personal interest in his effort to save his 
little kingdom from this tax. But Tetzel was not to 
be outdone in this way. He came with his stock of in- 
dulgences and his money box and opened up business 
in a town close to the borders of Saxony. Some of 
the people of Wittenberg went thither and bought in- 
dulgences. Afterwards some of them came to Luther 
and made confession in the usual way. They acknowl- 
edged that they had committed heinous sins, but when 
Luther urged them to repent they declared that they 
proposed to continue to practice these same sins. Lu- 
ther, astonished, indignantly demanded their reason. 
Then they produced the indulgences they had bought 
from Tetzel. Luther denounced these indulgences, 
and warned those who held them and relied on them 
that they were worth nothing, and that if they per- 
sisted in their sins they would certainly be lost. The 
words of Luther were carried back to Tetzel by some 
of those who had bought indulgences, and that blatant 
individual used severe language about any one who 
would dare to question the validity of his indulgences. 
He had fires made in the public square of the town, and 



Ltithe/s Theses. II7 

asserted with great emphasis that he was authorized 
by the pope to burn heretics. 

"I was a young doctor," said Luther, "just from the 
anvil," and the zeal of this young doctor made him 
eager not merely for a fray with Tetzel, but, what 
was better, to take up the cudgels in defense of the 
Church. 

Luther was unwilling to believe that the pope in- 
dorsed such things as were done by Tetzel, or that 
the Church generally indorsed them. The governing 
principle of his life was to stand for whatever he be- 
lieved to be true. He stood for the Church because 
he believed the Church stood for the truth. It was 
his discovery that the Church of his times stood for 
what he was sure was not true — a discovery which 
was forced upon him in a most disagreeable way — that 
ultimately drove him from the Romish Church. 

He called attention to Tetzel and his doings in let- 
ters to various bishops and dignitaries of the Church. 
Some of them laughed at him, others expressed sym- 
pathy with his views, but none were ready to join him 
in any definite effort to arrest the evil. All were afraid 
of the Romish hierarchy. And well might prudent 
men tremble before a power that, humanly speaking, 
seemed well-nigh omnipotent, and that was as unscrup- 
ulous as mighty. 

Luther determined to strike for the truth and for 
the Church. The feast of All Saints was approaching. 
Many would come to Wittenberg for the occasion. 
He did not consult any of his friends, and did not even 
tell them what he proposed to do. Sometimes it is best 



ii8 A Life of Martin Luther. 

to confer with flesh and blood; sometimes it is not. 
Many times our friends help us; sometimes they do 
not. 

On the thirty-first day of October, 15 17, Martin 
Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the 
church in Wittenberg. It is a day to be remembered. 
It registered the beginning of a new calendar in the 
Christian world. 

These theses seem to us mild in tone and contents, 
but at the time they were bold, defiant deliverances. 
They asserted some things with much emphasis. The 
pope had no right to remove any but ecclesiastical 
penalties. Repentance was more than penance. It 
was an inward sorrow for sin and an outward change of 
life. Those who trusted indulgences for salvation 
would go to the devil along with those who sold them. 
Indulgences could not possibly benefit the dead. The 
mercies of Christ were alike for all. The purchase of 
indulgences was not better than charity. The pope 
would rather that St. Peter's Church were burned down 
than that it should be built at the expense of other 
charities. The pope had no more scriptural power in 
the matter of pardon than every other priest or curate. 
Those who sold indulgences were doing the work of 
antichrist. The pope must be reverenced. He was 
misrepresented by those who sold indulgences. All 
honor to the pope and the Church ! 

Luther did not put these theses forth as assertions 
or dogmas; he simply set them forth as contentions 
for which he would be willing to meet any one in open 
discussion. This was a common custom in those times. 



Luther's Theses. 119 

In the preamble he announces that he will argue these 
propositions with any one that might wish to meet him. 
And if any who could not come to Wittenberg in per- 
son wished to discuss them, such a disputant was in- 
vited to written debate. 

It is worth while to state that there was nothing 
new or radical in these theses. Substantially every- 
thing claimed in them had been asserted and main- 
tained by others. The great objection to them, and 
that which made their writing an unpardonable of- 
fense, was that they endangered the revenues of the 
pope. 

The night before these theses were posted on the 
door of the Wittenberg church, the wise Frederick 
dreamed a strange dream. In his vision he saw a 
monk writing something on the door of the church 
at Wittenberg, using a pen whose staff reached to the 
city of Rome. This staff could not be broken, though 
it scraped the very ears of the pope, and all the digni- 
taries of the Church sought to break it. And there 
were other pens ; and as they wrote all Europe was in 
an uproar. Then the good prince awoke in a fright, 
and the next morning he told his dream to his com- 
panions at breakfast; and all wondered what this 
strange dream might mean. Some of them lived long 
enough to see history interpret its meaning. 

Frederick dreamed that this wonder-working pen 
was made from a feather plucked from a Bohemian 
goose a hundred years old ! 



CHAPTER X. 

Luther Defends His Theses — The Reformation 
Begins. 

Luther's ninety-five theses created a great commo- 
tion. The sensation was widespread. In two weeks 
tliey had been translated from the Latin in which 
Luther wrote them into German, and had spread all 
over Germany. The very winds of the early winter 
seemed to scatter them throughout the land. In those 
days, when men and news traveled slowly, it was 
wonderful how the theses were carried from city to city 
and town to town and hamlet to hamlet. Like the 
leaves of the passing autumn they fell upon the path- 
ways of the people. But they were not dead leaves; 
they were rather the seeds of a new life. They were 
borne across the Alps, and were laid at the very gates 
of the Vatican. 

Luther found himself suddenly famous. The recluse 
of the monastery had all at once become the most- 
talked-about man in Europe. Many praised him, oth- 
ers abused him, and all wondered whereunto this 
thing would grow. Leo, the courteous skeptic who 
occupied the papal chair, treated the matter liberally 
and humorously at first. He was disposed to think 
that too much learning had made the German doctor 
mad. Later, when the matter attained proportions 
that no one at first dreamed of, he spoke more se- 
verely. These were the words of a drunken German, 

(120) 



Luther Defends His Theses. 12 1 

he said; when the man sobered up he would think 
better of the matter. By and by the lion began to 
roar, and nothing but an overruling Providence saved 
the poor monk from his jaws. 

The masses of the people hailed the theses with de- 
light. They praised a man who had the courage to 
speak out against the impostures and impositions of 
Rome. Silent men are not always submissive to au- 
thority and oppression. Nature does not always an- 
nounce the coming storm. The earthquake comes 
without foretokens. Beasts often feel its tremor and 
hear its rumblings before men do. Rome did not hear 
the mutterings of the earthquake and the storm. She 
did not dream that the very silence that followed the 
death of brave John Huss, martyred by her treachery, 
was ominous and presaged a mighty social convulsion. 
Drunk with wealth and power and the blood of the 
saints, she knew nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing, 
cared for nothing except that which ministered to her 
avarice, gratified her ambition, and satiated her venge- 
ful, persecuting spirit. Borrowing the garb of Chris- 
tianity, she embodied the soul of Nero ; and claiming to 
represent the Prince of Peace, she perpetuated the spir- 
it of the ancient gladiator. She had soothed the con- 
sciences of men with her fatal opiates, and did not real- 
ize that the effects of the drug had worn off and that 
"neither poppy nor mandagora would medicine them 
to their sweet sleep of yesterday." No delusion is so 
great as the delusion of sinful security. 

No one was more surprised at all this furor than 
was Martin Luther himself. He had not meant to defy 



122 A Life of Martin Luther, 

the Church; he had meant to defend it. The theses 
were in no sense a popular pronunciamento. They 
were written in Latin ; and the people generally did 
not know Latin. They were couched not in common 
phrases, but in the phraseology of the schools. They 
asserted nothing absolutely; they simply challenged 
discussion. Their motive was not dogmatic egotism, 
but the loyalty of a true man, who loved his Church, 
the truth, and his Lord. At first Luther felt strangely. 
Like a daring soldier, he had ventured far in advance 
of his companions, and was not sure that his fellow- 
soldiers would follow him. He could not go back; 
to go forward might mean death, and death has its 
terrors for all sane men. Once he had sought the mon- 
astery to find his Lord ; now he had found him in that 
fearful solitude which comes to a man who stands 
alone in a great cause. Men do not need to hide from 
the world to know this seclusion of soul. It is found 
rather in the thick of the fight and in the center of the 
multitude. The solitude of the cloister had prepared 
him for this solitude of spirit in the midst of the 
throngs about him. He examined himself afresh, as 
well as scrutinized anew the position he had taken. 
He was sure that he had found the Saviour, and found 
him, not in priestly confession and absolution, but in his 
Word. He was assured that what he had taught and 
believed was in full accord with the Bible, and he was 
assured that God was with him. Thus assured, he 
stood forth armed and equipped for the battle before 
him. But he did not yet know how sore the battle 
would be. 



Luther Defends His Theses. I23 

He did not rush recklessly into the conflict. Those 
who stand for conscientious convictions are generally 
more cautious than those who are inspired by preju- 
dice, false judgment, or self-interest. The aggressive- 
ness of Luther's nature was not yet in full action. 
He was not fully acquainted with himself. He never 
turned back, and as he went forward he developed 
the strength of character that had hitherto lain dor- 
mant. The giant was at last awake, and no false DeHlah 
had shorn his locks while he slept. 

On the day after the posting of the theses Lu- 
ther preached very earnestly to his people. He warned 
them against trusting in indulgences. He told them 
that he had no power to save them. Only Jesus could 
do that. They must look to him. 

For many months after Luther had openly assumed 
his attitude toward the question of indulgences his 
attitude toward his ecclesiastical superiors was thor- 
oughly loyal. He wrote most respectfully to the arch- 
bishop, stating his case and making his appeal that 
the sale of indulgences might be discontinued. ' Of 
course this appeal accomplished nothing. How could 
it? He sent a copy of his theses to Leo with a most 
humble and reverential letter. But in his letter he did 
not retract anything he had written, nor did he recant 
anything he said at any time anywhere. His enemies 
have said that his course provoked an unnecessary 
schism in the Church; that but for his haste the re- 
forms he pleaded for would have come in the course 
of timie; and that therefore he really retarded the 
growth of those principles for which he contended. 



124 ^ ^^f^ of Martin Luther. 

In this connection it cannot be stated with too much 
emphasis that Luther's first appeals were to the 
Church. The only answer he received was reprimand, 
rebuke, and ultimate excommunication, followed by 
centuries of malicious abuse heaped upon his name 
and memory. No lie has been too black, no slander too 
foul, and no curse too bitter for Catholic slanderers of 
Martin Luther. To this very day Roman Catholic 
priests teach their flocks to hate the name of Luther, 
and to perpetuate falsehoods which they know, or 
should know, are the grossest misrepresentations. Un- 
fortunately the Romish Church has held too tenacious- 
ly to the Jesuitical doctrine that falsehood can be used 
innocently in defending the truth. 

Luther, as we have said, did not understand the full 
meaning of the position he had taken. He admits that 
he did not know all that was in the indulgences, and 
he felt a little strangely. "The tune was too high," 
he said ; he couldn't reach it with his voice. But his 
enemies understood the doctrine of indulgences, and 
the k)gic of that doctrine, and they picked up the gaunt- 
let he had thrown down. They forced the real issue 
to the front, and forced him to meet it. This is- 
sue resolves itself into a simple syllogism: Tihe pope 
has authorized the sale of indulgences ; but the pope is 
infallible; therefore the sale of indulgences is right. 
Luther at this time had disputed only the conclusion ; he 
had not rejected the premises. But he could not doubt 
the conclusion and at the same time admit the truth of 
the premises ; so in the course of time he refused to 
accept the premises, and thus he became a Protestant. 



Luther Defends His Theses. 125 

As a matter of fact, Luther had never fully ac- 
cepted the doctrine of papal infallibility. In this he 
was not peculiar. That doctrine was not then a formu- 
lated dogma of the Church. If the doctrine did not 
originate with Thomas Aquinas, who lived in the thir- 
teenth century, and who did more than almost any 
other scholastic writer to give systematic shape to the 
doctrines of the Catholic Church, it at least had in him 
its most strenuous advocate. Luther believed in the 
supreme authority of the Church, and in this sense 
its infallibility, but he believed that this authority was 
not vested in the pope alone, but in the general coun- 
cils as well. For three centuries and a half after Mar- 
tin Luther was confronted with this question of papal 
infallibility it was an unsettled matter in the Romish 
Church. Into all the ins and outs of Jansenism and 
Ultramontanism we need not go. It is enough to say 
that after the Reformation the issue was more than 
an academic question. Papal infallibility, according to 
modern Catholics, is a very harmless looking doctrine. 
They claim that it means simply that the pope is a 
court of final resort ; that every body, ecclesiastical and 
civil, must have a supreme judicatory, and that the 
pope's functions are of this nature. This is not the 
papal infallibility of Thomas Aquinas, but a sort of 
afterthought designed to give the dogma a semblance 
of justification. According to the belief of the Mid- 
dle Ages and of those who engaged in the contro- 
versy with Martin Luther, papal infallibility meant 
that the pope could do no wrong. And this, to an 
unsophisticated mind, is the only consistent view of 



126 A Life of Martin Luther. 

the doctrine. Two questions asked in another con- 
nection may be repeated here: If the pope is not in- 
faUible always and in all things, when and in what is 
he infallible? If he is not infallible in all things and 
at all times, is he infallible at all? To say that he is 
infallible when speaking ex cathedra would seem to 
make the "seat," and not the man, infallible. 

Martin Luther, as we shall see, was forced finally 
to reject the infallibility of the pope, general councils, 
and the infallibility of even the Church itself, and to 
find infallibility in the Bible alone. 

The first to take up the controversy against Luther 
was the redoubtable Tetzel himself. Assisted by one 
Conrad Wimpina, he set forth two sets of theses in 
defense of indulgences. Immediately upon their pub- 
lication the University of Frankfort-on-the-Oder made 
him doctor in theology, thus espousing his cause, and 
the erstwhile seller of papal pardons held a learned 
disputation on the question involved. It is easy to 
imagine, if we did not know otherwise, what his con- 
tention would be. The pope was virtually the Church. 
What he said must be accepted by all Christians as au- 
thoritative — as authoritative as the Bible itself. Those 
who opposed the pope were heretics, and were already 
excommunicated. If they did not recant in a reason- 
able time they were worthy of the severest penalties. 
If the pope and the Church were not authoritative in 
matters of faith, then every man could and would be- 
lieve only what was pleasing to himself. Then there 
would be as many heads of the Church as there were 
individuals. 



Luther Defends His Theses, 127 

This last statement contains the essence of an oft 
repeated criticism of Protestantism. And unfortu- 
nately Protestants themselves have sometimes bor- 
rowed this argument from Romanists and used it 
against other Protestants. Intolerance and persecution 
have come from this source. There are at least two 
errors in it. No Church, popish or Protestant, has 
ever had the divinely given right of prescription and 
proscription as to the faith of men. Every Church 
stands, or should stand, for what it believes, and it 
has the right to demand that its members should at 
least outwardly respect its creed ; but it has no au- 
thority to say that all men, or any man, shall accept 
without question what it teaches. The other error is 
that it has been supposed by Romish authorities that 
faith could be enforced; in other words, that men can 
be compelled to believe, even against their will and 
reason; whereas all faith is free. It is essentially so. 
Faith under constraint or restraint is no faith at all. 

Luther cared little for what Tetzel said about him 
and his theses. That master of the rhetoric of abuse 
had on more than one occasion paid his respects to 
Luther. Luther's retort was strong, but not elegant. 
He said he seemed to hear an ass braying. He declared 
he was glad that such men as Tetzel did not consider 
him a good Christian. This David was not always 
careful to select smooth stones to slay his Goliath. 

But there were more influential opponents than 
Tetzel. Prierias, a confidant of the pope, answered the 
theses. John Eck, a learned professor at the Univer- 
sity of Ingolstadt, and who in the battle just beginning 



128 A Life of Martin Luther. 

was to take a great part against Luther, wrote a reply 
which was full of bitterness and scurrihty. He had 
been on friendly terms with Luther up to this time, 
and when reproached for his breach of friendship and 
courtesy he excused himself on the ground that he 
had written his treatise for the archbishop, and not for 
publication. But the cruel words found their way to 
the eye of the public. 

In all these answers there were more assumptions 
than arguments, and threats were not wanting. Lu- 
ther was a dangerous person, a Hussite, and ought to 
be sent to the stake. Rome has often found it more 
convenient to burn her enemies than to answer them. 
Fire does its work more quickly and effectively than 
logic. In default of force of argument resort is had 
to the argument of force. 

But Luther was not idle. He published a "Sermon 
to the German People," in which he set forth his 
views touching the sale of indulgences. The man's 
soul was stirred within him. The soldier's blood was 
up. His full strength came out only in the fierceness 
of the impending combat. War never makes generals ; 
it simply develops them. The conflict with Rome did 
not make Martin Luther into the reformer; it simply 
brought out the volcanic energies of the man. 

In the meantime he went on with his duties at Wit- 
tenberg as usual. Staupitz was still his friend, his 
fellow-professors approved his stand and the boldness 
of the man, and his absolute sincerity made him the 
idol of the student body. Nothing appeals so power- 
fully to young manhood as courage; and, possibly, 



Luther Defends His Theses. 129 

there was something of partisanship in the support 
the members of the Augustine order gave him. 

In the spring he attended a chapter meeting of his 
order at Heidelberg. The Elector Frederick, who 
owed Luther a recognized debt of gratitude for help- 
ing him to protect his subjects from the ravages of 
Tetzel, felt some concern for Luther's safety, and 
wrote a personal letter to Staupitz concerning him. 
But the matter of indulgences did not come before 
the body, and Luther was treated with consideration 
by all parties. He was always social by nature, and 
while his life was not at any time a self-indulgent one, 
he was not at all averse to the social amenities of life. 
As serious as he was, he always had a ready sense of 
humor, and some of the best anecdotes of his times 
find a place in what he said and wrote. He was a true 
German, and Germans are not morose people. 

In May, 15 18, after his return from Heidelberg, he 
hastened to finish a work already begun. This he 
called "Solutions," and it was an exposition of his 
theses. In it he took ground that was much more ad- 
vanced than he had taken in the theses. He was fol- 
lowing faithfully, as he had always done, the Light 
that .was leading him. In his theses he had touched 
very gingerly upon the powers of the pope, and he 
had not taken unequivocal ground against the dogmas 
of the Church. Sometimes men take positions which 
tally fully with their convictions ; but when they realize 
all that is involved in these positions, especially if per- 
sonal safety or even the matter of their reputation is 
involved, they shrink back from unpleasant conclusions 
9 



130 A Life of Martin Luther. 

and consequences. But the Master can never make 
great leaders and reformers out of such cowards. 
Martin Luther knew that the sale of indulgences was 
wrong, and he was ready to reject any sort of premises 
that set up such a conclusion as the rightfulness of this 
traffic in the souls of men. In his ''Solutions" he 
showed that he was making progress in his search 
after truth and that he was courageous enough to fol- 
low his convictions to the bitter end. He asserted that 
penance was not of scriptural authority ; that the pope 
had no right to dispose of the accumulated works of 
supererogation, so called; and knowing that one of 
the popes had issued a decree making legal the sale of 
indulgences, he asserted that a papal decree was not 
binding upon the Church until accepted by the Church 
through a dogma of a general council. It was not 
long before he gave up this last shred of Romanism. 

All this time the agitation was growing. The peo- 
ple, disgusted with the sale of indulgences, were be- 
coming disaffected toward the Church. One of the 
marvels of the great Reformation was the rapidity 
of its movement. This was not the twentieth cen- 
tury, but the sixteenth. It was not the age of steam 
and electricity. It was a time of slow thought and slug- 
gish travel. And yet within a few years, almost in 
a few months, Germany had broken off the chains 
of Romanism. The forces leading to such a sudden 
change were cumulative. The combustibles were 
gathered for the great conflagration. Luther un- 
wittingly struck the match that set them blazing. 

Leo heard of what Luther was saying and doing. 



Luther Defends His Theses. 131 

The faithful appealed to his holiness for help. Some- 
thing must be done, and done at once. A wild boar, 
he said, had broken loose in Germany, and must be 
corralled. He would send a papal legate to see what 
could be done. The wily Cajetan was dispatched to 
Germany. A diet was held at Augsburg. The papal 
legate was intent on his special mission, but he found 
that other questions must be settled. In fact, his com- 
ing to Germany had a twofold object. Besides the 
Luther matter, the pope was anxious for the consent 
of the diet to a tax which the Vatican wished to im- 
pose on Germany, ostensibly for fighting the Turks, 
but really for some other less worthy object. The 
diet met this demand with counter demands. The 
emissaries of the pope had been greedy. The annates, 
or first fruits, which meant the first year's salary of 
every member of the Romish clergy, from the highest 
to the lowest, had been exacted by the pope with un- 
relenting regularity. The diet complained of this and 
other oppressions, and were in no mood to add to the 
taxes of the people. Maximilian, the aged emperor 
of the German Empire, was anxious to secure the in- 
fluence of everybody, even the Roman legate, in order 
to make sure that his grandson, afterwards Charles V., 
should succeed him on his throne. About this time 
the pope had summarily ordered Luther to appear at 
Rome within sixty days for trial. Every one knew 
what that meant. Once in his hands, Leo would have 
made short shrift with the bold monk who had dared 
to dedicate his "Solutions" to the pope. The result 
of the play and interplay of the political forces at 



132 A Life of Martin Luther, 

Augsburg was that Cajetan consented to give him a 
hearing at Augsburg in person. 

Much Protestant -history centers about the old town 
of Augsburg. Situated in Bavaria, Hke many other 
German cities it has had a varied history. Its be- 
ginnings date back to a colony founded by Au- 
gustus Caesar, established in the year 12 B.C., and 
the name came from Augustus. Once a free city, it 
enjoyed great commercial prosperity; but the dis- 
covery of America and the change in the commercial 
currents occasioned by that event left the city much 
depleted; and when, during the time of the first Na- 
poleon, the old German Empire went to pieces, the 
city lost its political independence and was merged 
into Bavaria. Here the Protestant princes and ad- 
herents met in 1530 and formulated the first Protestant 
creed, the historic Augsburg Confession of Faith. 

To this ancient city Luther journeyed on foot in the 
autumn of 15 18. It was the saddest journey he had 
ever made. His companion, by the way, was a young 
monk and pupil of his, Leonard Baier. His thoughts 
were sorrowful enough. He knew something of what 
it meant to appear before a Romish tribunal on a 
charge of heresy. 

"And now I must die," he thought; "and what dis- 
grace it will bring upon my parents !" But he had the 
sentence of death in himself. ''Una sains victis, nullam 
sperare saliitem," said the old Trojan ; and poor Mar- 
tin knew well enough that his only hope was to expect 
no hope. But he did not waver. He was going to his 
first battle with the powers of Rome, and going with 



Luther Defends His Theses. 133 

the courage of a martyr, ready to die for his convic- 
tions. One is not surprised that David Hume should 
see in the wiUingness of men to die for their faith 
only the desire for notoriety. Only a Christian can 
see the martyr spirit. 

Luther, footsore and sick, was forced to make the 
last few miles of his journey in a carriage and to bor- 
row a monk's coat from his friend, John Link, his 
own being too much worn to be decent. 

On his arrival at Augsburg he wished to report at 
once to Cajetan, the papal legate. That official had 
promised Frederick that he would deal with Luther in 
a fatherly way. Luther's friends, however, were more 
prudent than he was. Even then wise men had learned 
to distrust the promises of popes and papal legates. 
The Emperor Maximilian chanced to be hunting in 
the forests near Augsburg, and from him a safe- 
conduct was secured for Luther before he was al- 
lowed to present himself to Cajetan. 

Luther's attitude when he did appear was thoroughly 
reverential. He prostrated himself before the digni- 
tary. Cajetan held out his hand, and spoke graciously 
to the humble Luther. 

Several interviews were had. The burden of Caje- 
tan's demands was, RiETRACx! If Luther would but 
do this, all would be well. It was intimated to him 
that if he would but retract, he might expect high pro- 
motion from the pope. The papal delegate flattered, 
scolded, argued, threatened. One of his agents ap- 
proached Luther. *'Do you expect that your prince 
will take up arms in your defense?" he asked. 



134 ^ Life of Martin Luther. 

"God forbid !" said Luther. 

"Where, then, do you look for protection?" asked 
the satrap. 

"From heaven," answered Luther. 

The only concession Luther would consent to make 
was a promise that if the sale of indulgences was dis- 
continued, he would discontinue the agitation. Of 
course the legate would not consent to this compromise, 
and Luther himself afterwards felt ashamed that he 
had offered it. The situation became serious. There 
was good reason to believe that Cajetan was planning 
to seize Luther secretly, if not openly, and that, too, in 
spite of his safe-conduct from the emperor, and Lu- 
ther, like Saul, fled from the city by night. So hasty 
was his departure that he did not have time to get all 
his simple wearing apparel. After a weary return 
trip, part of it made on horseback without a saddle, 
he reached Wittenberg on the anniversary of the post- 
ing of the theses to the door of the church there. 

And so the first battle was over, and the victory was 
really with the man who had fled from the field. To 
escape with his life was a victory; to come from the 
contest with his convictions deepened and his courage 
strengthened was a greater victory still. To see a 
foe sometimes lessens one's fear of him. 

And now the leader of the great Reformation, whose 
leadership had come to him all unsought, entered upon 
a more active and aggressive campaign than ever. He 
was surprised at his own boldness. He now spoke 
and wrote things concerning the pope and the Church 
which a little while before he would have cons-idered 



Luther Defends His Theses. 135 

rank heresy. He said that it seemed that a higher, a 
divine, power moved him. In this he was not mis- 
taken. The Spirit was not reveaUng new truths to 
him, but bringing the old to his remembrance. 

The emissaries of Rome were also active. After 
Luther's return from Augsburg Cajetan wrote a letter 
to the Elector Frederick. He bitterly complained of 
Luther. He had found him incorrigible. The only 
honorable course for Frederick to pursue now was to 
turn Luther over to the authorities at Rome, or at 
least to banish him from his dominions. Frederick did 
not reply at once. After some weeks he wrote a very 
mild reply to Cajetan. He assured that dignitary that 
Luther's course entirely met his approval. He did 
not think that Luther should be required to recant, 
when the matters in dispute had not been adjudicated 
by a general council. 

While Luther felt a freedom and a courage he had 
not felt before, he realized that his situation was by 
no means one of safety. He I^new the animus of 
Rome now as he did not know it before. Whatever 
loyalty he might have felt for the great hierarchy in 
the past, and however sincere his efforts had been to 
save his Church from the shame of the indulgences, 
he knew that he no longer had anything to hope for 
from Rome. He was coming to regard the pope as 
antichrist, and he realized that there was nothing for 
him in the future but an uncompromising war upon 
the papacy. But he was unwilling to embroil his good 
friend and protector, Frederick, with the papal see, 
and he knew that as long as Frederick sheltered him 



136 A Life of Martin Luther. 

he was liable to provoke the pope's hostility, a thing 
much to be dreaded in those days. So he was ready 
to go into exile. Some thought that he might find 
safety in Paris, and he was ready to go thither. He 
expressed himself thus to his friend, Spalatin, the elec- 
tor's chaplain. "I am in the hands of God and my 
friends," he said. 

Luther did not go into exile. The Lord found other 
ways of protecting his servant; and his preservation 
through all the dangers that compassed his life, while 
not miraculous, was none the less providential. It 
would be interesting, if such speculations came within 
the purpose of this history, to philosophize as to what 
might have happened had he sought safety in France 
or elsewhere. At times in the history of the world the 
destiny of a people and of a cause has seemed wrapped 
up in the life of an individual, but possibly this has not 
happened as often as we think. Seed sown by a hand 
that was paralyzed even before the sowing was com- 
plete have sprung up and produced a harvest that was 
all the dearer to men because of the death that sancti- 
fied the sowing. Luther had sown the seed ; the har- 
vest would have come even though the Romish hier- 
archy had martyred him. The waters of the Rhine 
which bore John Huss's ashes to the sea also bore the 
truths for which he died to the many peoples living 
along the banks of the historic river, and the very 
winds, to which these ashes were denied, bore the 
truths to the utmost parts of the earth. 

The mission of Cajetan was a signal failure. He ac- 
complished neither of the objects for which he cam^e. 



Luther Defends His Theses. 137 

But possibly this was not his fault. The rising tide of 
the Reformation might not be stayed by papal diplo- 
macy and papal dogmatism. Luther had no respect for 
his theological skill. He was a "mutton-headed fel- 
low, who was as awkward in the handling of theology 
as a donkey would be in handling a harp." His effort 
to persuade the diet to consent to a greater tribute to 
the Roman see was a foregone failure. Evidently Leo 
did not comprehend the gravity of the situation. Blind 
himiself, he did not realize that others had begun to 
see. He did not know that the light was dawning, 
and he did not care to know. False persuasions are 
not infrequent effects of false lives. Men beHeve in 
the perpetuity of a thing that has existed a long time ; 
and Leo, naturally enough, regarded the power of the 
Roman pontiff, centuries-long and augmented by each 
passing age, as too well established to be shaken by 
the attacks of a peasant monk up in Germany. But 
the mouth of this audacious individual must be stopped. 
A firebrand would do this most effectually, and dar- 
ing imitators of this child of the devil would be de- 
terred from further disturbances if this man Luther 
were only thus summarily disposed of. 

A new agent of the pope was sent to Germany. The 
choice of this representative was a stroke of good pol- 
icy. The person commissioned to look after this agita- 
tion in Saxony and elsewhere in the German Empire 
was himself a German. And better still, in viev/ of his 
mission, he was a subject by birth of the Elector Fred- 
erick. He was the pope's chamberlain. He knew fully 
the mind of his master at Rome, and he was supposed 



138 A Life of Martin Luther. 

to know the mind of his prince in Germany. The 
name of this trusted envoy of the pope was Charles 
von Miltitz. 

Mihitz was not hampered by unwelcome requests 
for more taxes. He had but one task to accomplish. 
This was the arrest of Martin Luther. This would be 
easy enough, it was supposed at Rome, if the Elector 
Frederick could be persuaded to withdraw his pro- 
tection from the man who had stirred up all this com- 
motion. But Miltitz changed his original plans some- 
what after he reached Germany. He admitted to Lu- 
ther that the arrest could not be carried out by an army 
of 25,000 men ; that three out of every four people were 
favorable to Luther in the controversy. And so, with 
vindictive secret instructions from the pope and pres- 
ents and flatteries for Frederick, and hypocritical tears 
and entreaties for Luther, he set about his work with 
all the skill of a trained Romish diplomat; and Rome 
has turned out many an expert in the fine art of di- 
plomacy. 

Miltitz brought with him one of the highest tokens 
of papal favor. This was nothing less than the golden 
rose, "anointed with the holy chrism, scented with 
musk, and blessed with the papal benediction." This 
gift is bestowed on princes even to this day as an evi- 
dence of the appreciation by the pope of some act of 
special loyalty to the Church. However, this gift was 
not placed at once in the hands of Frederick. The pope 
was too cautious for that. Miltitz was to deposit it 
with the Messrs. Fugger, of Augsburg. Its final pres- 
entation depended upon the elector's compliance with 



Luther Defends His Theses. 139 

the pope's wishes. However, this was not stated in 
either of the two letters Miltitz carried to Frederick. 
The first of these letters, at least that which was in- 
tended to be first, was full of honeyed words. It pro- 
fessed the most ardent love on the part of the pope for 
"his son," the faithful Frederick. In his second the 
real purpose of all this long-winded flattery was fully 
disclosed. There was in Frederick's dominions an in- 
fected sheep. This sheep was a son of Satan. This 
diseased member of the flock would spread contagion 
to other sheep. The elector himself would be defiled 
by the presence of this sheep. The pope was sure 
Frederick would cooperate with his ambassador, Mil- 
titz, in bringing this sheep to justice. A letter of simi- 
lar import was sent to Spalatin, Luther's friend, the 
chaplain of Frederick; and the papal messenger was 
armed with more than threescore epistles of this pur- 
port addressed to different cities of Germany. In all 
of them the pope had only one designation for Luther 
— ^he was a child of the devil. 

It is not known whether Miltitz intended to see Lu- 
ther at first or not; possibly, if he did intend to see 
him, it was with a view of impressing upon Luther as a 
matter of personal safety the importance of renounc- 
ing his position at once. If he had been perfectly free 
to carry out his intentions, he certainly would not have 
minced words with the man v^hose words had aroused 
all this furor. But the man who would be cruelly un- 
relenting when able to carry out his wishes can flatter 
and temporize when he finds himself balked of his pur- 
pose. The two men met at the home of Spalatin the 



140 A Life of Martin Luther. 

first week in Januar)^, 15 19. "O, Brother Martin !" ex- 
claimed the sagacious Miltitz. "I thought you were an 
old monk arguing with himself while he sat by his 
kitchen fire, but now I see how young and strong and 
vigorous you are." He went on to tell Luther that for 
a hundred years nothing had occasioned so much 
trouble at Rome as this matter had. The pope w(Duld 
rather have given a hundred ducats than for all this 
to have happened. He actually shed tears as he told 
Luther about the troubles of the holy father. The 
two men ate supper together, and there were outward 
evidences of the warmest regard and fellowship. 

Luther was not deceived by all this and the apostol- 
ic kiss bestowed upon him when they parted, but he 
was not discourteous and did not let Miltitz know that 
he understood his subterfuges. Miltitz offered terms 
of peace, and a truce was concluded. It was the last 
of Luther's efforts to be reconciled to Rome. 

Luther agreed to write two letters. One of these 
was to be a sort of apology to the pope. The other was 
to be an open letter to the people of Germany. In 
the former, which was duly written, Luther retracted 
nothing, but assured the holy father, his spiritual su- 
perior the pope, that his purpose all the time had been 
to defend the Church from what he considered a great 
wrong. In the letter to the public Luther conceded all 
he could, and urged the people to avoid misrepresenta- 
tions and misjudgments of the pope. Compromises 
have not often resulted in permanent peace, and this 
one did not. 



CHAPTER XL 
Luther in the Gathering Storm. 

The quasi pact between Luther and Miltitz could 
not bring permanent peace. It was not even a com- 
promise. Stripped of all its flatteries and subterfuges, 
all that Miltitz promised Luther was that if he would 
behave himself in future the pope stood ready to for- 
give him. Rome conceded nothing, and made no ad- 
missions of wrong-doing in connection with the sale 
of indulgences. Infallibility is not wont to reverse 
itself. In fact, about this time Leo issued a bull not 
merely approving what had been done in the traffic in 
indulgences but authorizing the continuance of the bus- 
iness. However, the agitation raised by Luther had 
greatly reduced the proceeds of the trade. As he ex- 
pressed it afterwards, he had had the courage to bell 
the cat, and afterwards the dupes of the impious fraud 
were more wary. This was the beginning of the end 
of this popish imposture. Whatever Rome may claim 
as her abstract rights (and her asserted rights have 
remained abstract only when she was unable to make 
them concrete), an effort to sell indulgences in Euro- 
pean and American countries in the twentieth century 
by agents of the Vatican is an inconceivable possibility. 

Luther kept his part of the contract with Miltitz 
in good faith for a time. After issuing the letters al- 
ready referred to, he kept the peace for some months. 
We can only speculate as to how long this silence 

(141) 



142 A Life of Martin Luther. 

would have continued if he had not been called to 
battle again by an indirect attack upon him by his old 
friend, now become his bitter opponent, John Eck. 
Eck, as we have seen, had assailed him viciously after 
the posting of the ninety-five theses, and he had not 
had the magnanimity to acknowledge the wrong he 
had done Luther. A man who is unwilling to right 
one wrong is generally ready to do another wrong. 
Eck was evidently anxious to enter the lists against 
Luther. But for reasons best known to himself (pos- 
sibly because he wished to place Luther in the atti- 
tude of the aggressor), he did not challenge Luther 
to open controversy. The method he employed ac- 
complished all that he could have wished in the way 
of open controversy with Luther, and reopened the 
half-closed breach between Luther and Rome and 
broadened that breach ultimately into permanent sep- 
aration. 

Luther had a friend and colleague at Wittenberg 
whose name was Karlstadt. At first Karlstadt had 
looked warily upon the theses of Luther. Later, how- 
ever, he had espoused those theses fully. He had an- 
swered the "Obelisks," which was the title of Eck's 
reply to Luther's theses. He was generous and im- 
petuous, and anxious to defend the Lutheran conten- 
tions. And Eck was quite willing to meet Karlstadt. 
He claimed to have won victory in theological debates 
in many German universities. For some time a public 
disputation between Eck and Karlstadt had been 
planned. Eck issued thirteen theses for which he pro- 
posed to stand. In these he went much further than 



Luther in the Gathering Storm. 143 

anything that had been originally contemplated in his 
debate with Karlstadt. He called his antagonist the 
special defender of Luther. The essence of his con- 
tentions was the supremacy of the pope. Luther saw 
through all this, and he could not remain silent longer. 
He felt that to do so would not only be cowardly; it 
would likewise be hurtful to the truth itself. Eck, he 
said, had let loose the frogs or the flies intended for 
him on Karlstadt. He wrote a letter to the elector in 
which he declared it had been his intention to keep the 
peace agreed upon by Miltitz and himself, but that as 
Eck had now made this impossible, he believed that 
God would overrule it all. The matter of victory in 
the controversy, so far as the comparative skill of the 
contestants was involved, was not as vital as the truth 
itself. Besides (and possibly this had as much weight 
with the elector as any other consideration), it was 
the reputation of the University of Wittenberg, the 
elector's pride, that was attacked. 

Luther issued a challenge to Eck. Let that doughty 
warrior add Saxony to the long list of his intellectual 
conquests. Let him rid his stomach of that which 
seemed to lie heavily upon it. Luther issued a set of 
theses for which he was willing to contend, and chal- 
lenged Eck to meet him in open discussion of these 
propositions. The sum of these was a denial of the 
supremacy of the pope. 

Luther's friends were naturally solicitous about his 
success, and also about his personal safety. He was 
wittingly or unwittingly handling dangerous explosives. 
In fact, he was placing these explosives dangerously 



144 ^ ^^f^ of Martin Luther. 

near the very foundations of the ecclesiastical struc- 
ture. Luther prepared himself with great care. He 
gave a closer study than he had ever before given to 
Church history and Church law, and he found ample 
evidence in both to sustain his contentions. The power 
of the pope, while it had been a fact for a thousand 
years, rested only upon papal decretals, and not upon 
ecclesiastical history, and was contrary to the decrees 
of the Council of Nice and to the Scriptures. 

The historic debate between Luther and Eck took 
place in the summer of 15 19, beginning July 4. The 
place was Leipsic, one of the famous old cities of 
Saxony. It was five hundred years old at this time. 
For a hundred years it had been the seat of a noted 
university, which still exists, and in after times it was 
to be connected in tragic ways with the great Reforma- 
tion. In the Thirty Years' War it was captured and 
recaptured by the contending armies, and was almost 
wiped off the map. Near here in 1813 a three days' 
battle was fought between the army of Napoleon and 
the allies, the result of which was one of the first 
checks the great Corsican received in his bloody prop- 
aganda. The welcome Luther received in Leipsic was 
not cordial, but in the course of time the citizens of 
the city were ready to adopt the principles for which 
he contended, and their descendants have never de- 
parted from those principles. 

The debate was held under the most approved con- 
ditions. It was encouraged by Duke George, the local 
ruler of that part of Saxony, who opened up Pleisen- 
burg, one of his castles, for the purpose, and many 



Luther in the Gathering Storm. 145 

distinguished men attended the discussion. The 
speeches were in Latin, and were taken down by no- 
taries duly appointed. The old castle where this de- 
bate took place was still standing a few years since. 

A contemporary describes Luther as he appeared on 
this occasion. He was a man of medium height, thin 
because of much study and his abstemious habits, with 
a pleasant voice, an agreeable countenance, and the 
manners of a gentleman. His fund of knowledge was 
wonderful. He had a good working knowledge of 
Hebrew and Greek, and he preserved his mental equi- 
librium under all the trying circumstances of the de- 
bate. The people were told many foolish things about 
him. They attached a superstitious charm to a little 
silver ring he wore on one of his fingers; and they 
wondered at the frequency with which he smelled a 
little bunch of flowers he carried in his hand. A good 
woman of the city told her friends that she knew Frau 
Luther, and that the latter had confessed that the devil 
himself was the real father of Martin. 

As for the debate itself, it would seem to us that, 
while Luther had truth on his side and the greatest 
possible sincerity, he was rather worsted by his bout 
with Eck. The inexorable logic of Rome was against 
him. To contend, as she did, that the Church is not 
confined to Rome, but is made up of all true believers, 
Greek and what not, was an open espousal of the doc- 
trines for which John Huss had been burned at the 
stake. The big-mouthed, big-bodied, quick-witted, un- 
scrupulous Eck took advantage of this admission on 
Luther's part, and called Luther a Bohemian. Luther 
10 



146 A Life of Martin Luther. 

sought with dubious success -to parry this thrust. It 
was final and fatal to him in the eyes of many who 
heard the debate. Luther at last acknowledged that 
councils could err, and that the final appeal as to mat- 
ters of faith must be had to the Bible itself. He told 
Eck in conclusion that he was sorry that that individ- 
ual dipped into the Bible as the water spider dipped 
into water, and seemed as much afraid of the Word of 
God as the devil is of the cross. As for himself, he 
deferred to the Bible more than to the decrees of coun- 
cils and the bulls of popes. 

Luther returned to Wittenberg much dejected. He 
had been accompanied thither by some two hundred of 
the students of the university and by his iidiis Achates, 
Philip Alelanchthon. His feelings were not merely 
the mortification one experiences who has been defeat- 
ed before the public. He had little of this feeling. His 
purpose in all this controversy was not victory, but the 
establishment of the truth. He could but see more and 
more that his opponents were only intent on his un- 
doing. Logically he was already out of the Romish 
Church; the real separation had already taken place: 
the formal act would follow soon enough. No fact in 
all the history of Luther fills the sympathetic student 
of his life with more admiration than the persistent, 
pathetic way in which he clung to the ecclesiastical 
house in which he was reared. He left the mother 
Church not with the festivities of the prodigal intent 
upon spending his substance in riotous living, but with 
the sorrowful tears of a devoted son who is driven from 
the parental roof. 



Luther in the Gathering Storm, 147" 

But the meeting at Leipsic had not been a failure, 
whatever may have been the seeming popular effect 
of the debate. The truth as set forth by Luther did 
not fall to the ground. Many heard the debate, others 
heard about it, and the minds of many honest men 
were open to what commended itself to every impartial 
man's conscience in the sight of God. And in the 
course of time influential men of the nobility came to 
the support of the cause of Luther. Germany had 
never submitted cheerfully to the exactions and op- 
pressions of Rome. The love of liberty was too strong 
in the old Teutonic race for that; and the courage of 
Luther excited the admiration of a people who through 
all their history, from the days of Julius Csesar down to 
this time, had possessed the qualities of true soldiers. 

Among those attracted to Luther at this time was 
Ulrich von Hutten. He was of a noble family, had 
had a taste of monastic life in his youth (coming out of 
it with thorough disgust) studied law, traveled ex- 
tensively for those times, and was a sort of literary 
and theological free lance. In 15 18 he wrote at least 
a part of the second series of the "Epistolse Obscuro- 
rum Virorum," a set of letters which in satire rival the 
famous letters of Junius. These letters were intended 
as attacks upon scholasticism especially, and they also 
called attention in the most sarcastic w^ay to the errors 
and abuses of Romanism. Of course, in full harmony 
with the spirit of the age and the Church, these letters 
were publicly burned at the command of the pope. 
But to burn a book or a document does not cause men 
to forget it, and does not destroy its influence. Some- 



148 A Life of Martin Luther. 

times the opposite effect results. Ulrich von Hutten 
became a fast friend of Luther's, and with character- 
istic impetuousness offered to defend him with his 
sword. Franz von Sickingen, a German noble of one 
of the Rhine provinces, offered Luther exile in his 
castle, if it should become necessary for the reformer 
to leave the dominion of Frederick. 

But there was one friend upon whom Luther leaned 
through all these troublous times and through all the 
years of his after life. This was Philip Melanchthon. 
Melanchthon was a marvel of precocity. He entered 
the faculty at Wittenberg at twenty-one, already well 
equipped for his place. He came to the institution the 
very year that Luther posted his theses. The attach- 
ment between the two men was spontaneous and al- 
most instantaneous. The strong, angular Luther, not 
always refined in his way of putting the truth, though 
always sincere, found in Alelanchthon the check that 
he needed. Gentle, conservative, refined, and more 
learned in some things than Luther, Melanchthon fur- 
nished the conservatism that Luther needed. Melanch- 
thon could never have led in the great Reformation; 
he lacked the aggressive initiative necessary for a work 
like that. Without him, however, Luther might have 
gone too far and too fast. Luther was the centrifugal 
force, Melanchthon the centripetal, in the great for- 
ward movement of the Church at this time. It is not 
surprising that the two became lifelong friends. Such 
friendships are common in every age and people. They 
are essential to human happiness, and men are the bet- 
ter for them. 



Luther in the Gathering Storm. 149 

A great political change took place about this time, 
and one that had much to do with the fortunes of the 
great Reformation. Maximilian, the German Em- 
peror, died in January, 15 19. It is only a matter of 
conjecture as to what his attitude would have been 
toward the great Protestant movement which was just 
beginning when he died. He was a Catholic, but he 
had no great opinion of the popes. He was German 
to the core, and it is certain that he would not have 
allowed Luther to fall unprotected into the hands of 
Leo. 

Luther always spoke kindly and loyally of Maxi- 
milian. He records this saying of the emperor: 
"There are three kings. in Europe," said Maximilian. 
"I am king of kings, who obey me if they wish; the 
king of France is king of donkeys, who do what he 
commands, whether they like it or not ; the King of En- 
gland is king of men, who obey him because they love 
their king and their country.'' 

During some months after the death of Maximilian 
Frederick the Wise, Luther's unfailing friend, seems 
to have exercised temporarily the office of royal execu- 
tive. And he might have had the emperor's throne 
if he had been willing. But he was well advanced in 
years by this time, and no doubt preferred the quietude 
of his own little domain to the turmoil of the empire. 
Through his influence Charles, already King of Spain, 
was chosen to Maximilian's place and assumed the 
title of Charles V. The pope opposed the choice of 
Charles. This fact must have had its influence in 
shaping Charles's attitude toward Luther. He was 



150 A Life of Martin Luther. 

a devout Catholic, and lent himself in the course of his 
reign quite fully to the wishes of the papacy; but he 
could but feel kindly toward Frederick, and show 
some consideration to those Frederick favored. And 
thus in this initial stage of the great Reformation, as 
in many of its after stages, Luther and his followers 
owed much to the counterplay of political forces in 
Europe. Charles was an excellent prince in many re- 
spects. Coming to the throne of the greatest empire 
of modern Europe when only twenty years of age, he 
exhibited from the beginning many kingly qualities, 
and his reign was one of the most illustrious in all 
history. While he never favored the great Reforma- 
tion from any sympathy with the doctrines for which 
Luther stood, and while what concessions he showed 
the Protestants from time to time were mainly due 
to the necessities of his kingdom in his almost cease- 
less wars with France, yet he was a noble enemy, 
and Luther always honored him. As we have seen, 
he grew weary and surfeited with royalty at last, and 
sought in a monastery the quiet which he had never 
known in all his life. 

There were those who hoped for favor for the Lu- 
theran contentions from Charles. Young, generous, 
with every human ambition satisfied, and owing his 
accession to the German throne to Frederick the Wise, 
there seemed good reason to suppose that he would 
be m'agnanimous in his dealings with a movement that 
really had as one of its political effects the freeing of 
Germany from the domination of Italy. But men's 
religious faith is usually fixed before they reach the 



Luther in the Gathering Storm. 151 

age of twenty, provided they have had any reHgious 
training at all, and whatever changes take place after 
that age are usually in the direction of less, and not 
more or different faith. Charles had been trained, a 
Catholic, and a Catholic he remained to the day of his 
death. 

Luther was not idle all this time. He gave diligent 
attention to his parochial duties and to the duties of 
his professorship. He used the press, and sent forth 
many tracts and pamphlets. About this time he pub- 
lished a most helpful little brochure on sorrow which 
helped many sad hearts, the elector's among the rest. 
He realized that the shadow of a possible martyrdom 
was over him, and he felt like his Master, who said: 
"I must work the works of him that sent me, . . . 
the night cometh, when no man can work." He did 
not whine ; he did not grow bitter ; he did not seek the 
shade of some juniper tree and ask to die. He was 
subject to moods of great depression in the course of 
his life, but these usually came when there was no ur- 
gent need for immediate action. He illustrated one of 
the paradoxes of human nature. Strong men are us- 
ually least troubled when outward conditions would 
seem to afford greatest reason for being troubled. Con- 
strained inaction makes strong men the victims of their 
own morbid feelings. A true soldier is happier on the 
battlefield than inside the walls of an enemy's prison. 

Luther did not cease his agitation with reference 
to the papacy. To the votaries of Rome he seemed 
perniciously active. H his enemies gave him no rest, 
he gave them none. Already the plans for his arrest 



152 A Life of Martin Luther, 

were being matured. His recent opponent, now be- 
come his personal enemy, had gone to Rome to lay 
the matter before the pope. Eck was only too glad to 
go on this mission with the indorsement of Duke 
George. One of his contemporaries said that Eck's 
face was like a butcher's, and evidently his nature was 
of the same sort. He beheved that he had vanquished 
Luther in debate. If he had been generous, this would 
have satisfied him. But he was too true to the worst 
teachings of Roman Catholicism to be generous. Like 
his superiors, he believed that the best answer to Mar- 
tin Luther was the stake. Such heretics deserved no 
mercy. 

It is but justice to the Romish hierarchy to say that 
its attitude toward Luther for many months after he 
began his attack upon its power was notably conserv- 
ative. The papal bull authorizing the sale of indul- 
gences, which was issued the latter part of 15 18, more 
than a year after Luther had posted his theses, did not 
specify Luther by name. Two universities, Cologne 
and Luvain, had condemned his teachings, and one of 
the German bishops had also condemned them. But 
Luther treated these condemnations with contempt. 
Two high papal officials had been dispatched into 
Germany to arrange matters with Luther. The bull of 
excommunication, though it came at last, was long de- 
layed. 

This forbearance is explained in part by the arro- 
gance of Rome itself. Leo and his advisers regarded 
the matter as too trivial to merit serious attention. 
Another fact contributed to this state of inaction on 



Luther in tJie Gathering Storm. 153 

the part of the Vatican. •Luther's teachings were ini- 
mensely popular in Germany. He had simply voiced 
the deepest convictions of the best people; and the 
German princes were not disinclined to favor a man 
whose contentions served to magnify their power as 
against the pov/er of the pope. Miltitz understood all 
this when he reached Gennany, and found, too, no 
doubt, that the German ecclesiastics were secretly fa- 
vorable to a man who contended for the independence 
of the German clergy, so long hampered by the pre- 
tensions of the pope. Albert, the archbishop, had 
himself gone far enough to say that the papal power 
was only an incident, and not an essential to Chris- 
tianity. A knowledge of all these facts explains Mil- 
titz's persistent effort to settle the whole matter by ne- 
gotiation. The personal hostility of Eck and others, 
and Luther's own aggressiveness, made this effort at 
mediation utterly abortive. 

Luther's zeal was unremitting. Every controversy 
he had (and he had many) only led him to take more 
advanced ground. He did not deny his sympathy with 
Huss. "We are all Hussites," he -said, speaking of 
those who agreed with him. "Paul and Augustine 
were Hussites." His friends counseled him to moder- 
ation. "You can't make a pen out of a sword," he 
answered. "Jesus came not to send peace, but a 
sword." He admitted that he was rash, but said that 
his enemies knew it, too, and ought not to stir up the 
dog. His answers were not always soft, and they did 
not turn away the wrath of his opponents. One won- 
ders at the patience of princes and Church dignitaries 



154 ^ ^^f^ of Martin Luther. 

under his castigatlon. He*vas bold, reckless, defiant. 
But his hot words were forged in a heart that was set 
on fire from heaven itself. 

Good men watched the progress of the movement 
and wondered. Erasmus, the learned autocrat of the 
Humanists, with characteristic caution did not con- 
demn the agitation, but did not commit himself to Lu- 
ther's support. The good Staupitz, Luther's spiritual 
father, sought to restrain the impetuousness of his 
young friend. About this time the venerable man, 
weary by reason of age, retired from his place as vicar- 
general of the Augustine order, and sought the re- 
tirement so congenial to men of his devout tempera- 
ment when the pressure of time is upon them. Spa- 
latin, the elector's chaplain, was Luther's constant 
counselor, and always on the side of caution and pru- 
dence. His words had as much weight with Luther 
as the words of any one could have, since he was clos- 
est to the good Frederick, to whose friendship Luther 
owed his immunity from arrest up to this time. Me- 
lanchthon, his beloved young friend, to whom he gave 
a warmer affection than he ever gave any other man, 
was close to him and helped him with his sympathy as 
well as with his knowledge. He received assurances 
of appreciation from the Bohemians, and was too sin- 
cere not to accept it in generous kindness. 

Disquieting rumors continued to come from Rome. 
He had intimations through Spalatin of the storm that 
was gathering at the Vatican, but these premonitions 
only served to stir up his spirit to more aggressive war- 
fare. The battle was on, and it was no longer a war 



Luther in the Gathering Storm. 155 

of defense. He now attacked the strongholds of the 
papacy. 

In 1520 he issued some notable publications. Their 
tenor was radical and revolutionary. They rang like 
the bugle call. Germany, Europe, and the Vatican 
could no longer sleep after they were sent forth. Mil- 
titz could accomplish nothing with his efforts at medi- 
ation after this. The cautions of friends could avail 
nothing now. Battle to ultimate victory or utter de- 
feat was inevitable. The words of Luther in these 
publications thrill the student of history after the 
lapse of four centuries. These are not the words of a 
wild fanatic nor of the bold politician. They throb 
with the heart beat of a man deliberately ready to shed 
his blood for his convictions. 

In the first of these publications Luther makes a 
vigorous onslaught upon the claims of the papacy. 
The pope is surrounded by three walls. The first of 
these is that the spiritual power is superior to the tem- 
poral. The second wall is the claim of the pope to be 
the sole authorized interpreter of the Scripture. The 
third wall is the asserted but unauthorized right of the 
pope to call a general council. He attacks these walls 
one by one. He denies the right of the pope to impose 
celibacy upon the priests. He deplored the immoralities 
of the priests. Marriage was objectionable to many of 
them because it would restrain their lustful liberty. He 
would be glad to see every convent in the land turned 
into a school. Men and women ought to be allowed 
to enter and leave the monastic life at will. He de- 
plored the ignorance of the people, and the indifference 



156 A Life of Martin Luther. 

of those in authority to this ignorance. He disputed 
the claims of the pope to exercise the exclusive right 
of ordination. German bishops need not go to Rome 
for ordination. The laity should have the cup as well 
as the bread in the sacrament. Emperors could call 
general councils. Laymen could sit in those councils. 

Following this notable publication, a little later in 
the same year came his famous "Babylonian Captiv- 
ity.'' In this he showed the fearful corruption of the 
Church, especially with reference to the sacraments. 

Luther sent these books to the elector, and received 
in return a basket of game. Afterwards Frederick de- 
clared that he saw nothing so very objectionable in 
what Luther had written. 

These publications created a great sensation. Four 
thousand copies of them were disposed of in a few 
weeks. New editions were called for. The people de- 
voured these brave words, and admired the man who 
was brave enough to write and print them. 

Meanwhile the pope had issued a bull of excommu- 
nication against Luther. This, which was signed in 
June, was borne to Germany by John Eck. That vin- 
dictive individual had accomplished his vengeful mis- 
sion to the Vatican. He would now silence forever 
the man who had dared to challenge him to debate. 
We can only imagine how he gloated over his triumph 
as he returned from far-away Italy and reached Ger- 
many in the early days of autumn. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Luther^ before the Diet of Worms. 

The long delayed blow was ready to descend at last. 
It hung suspended as by a hair over the devoted head 
of Martin Luther, the daring author of the ninety-five 
theses and other attacks upon the papacy. 

The bull of excomlmunication was couched in the 
most solemn language. It called upon the Lord and 
all the holy apostles and all good men to help to de- 
fend the Church from the wild boar that had broken 
into the vineyard of the Lord, the wild beast that was 
ravaging the vines. Forty-one of Luther's conten- 
tions were singled out of his works and condemned. 
These he was required to retract within sixty days, or 
he would be visited with the punishment due such a 
gross offender. The pope declared that he had sought 
by every fatherly means to bring Luther to repentance, 
but, failing in all this, he must protect the Church 
against a man who was inveighing against its most 
sacred institutions. Among Luther's propositions 
condemned, significantly enough, was his disapproval 
of the burning of John Huss. It was easy enough to 
infer from this that a similar fate awaited Luther if 
he persisted in his course. 

Miltitz, either because he did not know the mind of 
the pope or knew it better than his contemporaries 
did and better than subsequent historians have known 
it, still insisted that the matter might be adjusted. At 

(157) 



158 A Life of Martin Luther. 

his instance Luther wrote what seems to have been 
his last letter to Leo. This letter was not calculated 
to placate the papacy. He recants nothing. On the 
contrary, he turns preacher to the pope himself. He 
sends Leo a copy of a little book entitled "The Free- 
dom of a Christian." This is a noble deliverance, but 
it was not calculated to please the taste of the pope. 
After various other statements, he declares that he has 
never said or written anything that was intended to be 
a personal attack upon Leo. He regards that incum- 
bent of the papal chair as the victim of conditions that 
he is not really responsible for, and exhorts Leo if 
he cannot reform the corruptions which the pope him- 
self knows exist about him, to vacate the papal see, 
and thus escape all responsibility for those conditions, 
He assures Leo that his war is upon the system itself, 
and not upon him. Under the circumstances, the bold- 
ness of this letter was nothing less than audacity. Lu- 
ther's courage was of the kind that grows stronger 
with increasing danger. 

The death of Leo three years after this gives Lu- 
ther's words to him the solemnity of a prophetic warn- 
ing. Like many of his predecessors and successors in 
the papal chair, he was chiefly intent upon the exten- 
sion of the territorial and temporal powers of the papal 
see. He found it possible very early in the reign of 
Charles V. to conclude a most advantageous alliance 
with the young emperor. This agreement increased 
his domain in Italy. But just when he was rejoicing 
over the results of this treaty he was seized with a 
mortal sickness, and died before he could receive ex- 



Luther, before the Diet of Worms. 159 

treme unction. "Pray for me," he said to those about 
him, "that I may recover and make you all happy." 
After his death the populace followed his body through 
the streets of the city with insults. They could not 
forgive him' for dying before receiving the last rites 
of the Church. They said he had come in like a fox, 
reigned like a lion, and died like a dog ! Very different 
was the death and burial of Martin Luther, twenty- 
three years later. 

The future that Luther faced at this time would have 
driven a less courageous man either to surrender or to 
voluntary exile. His friends, Frederick among them, 
had hoped for favor from Charles. Erasmus had 
warned him against any such expectations, and Fred- 
erick, after returning from the Low Countries, whither 
he had gone to see Charles, notified him through Spa- 
latin that Charles would show him no consideration. 
With the power of the greatest spiritual ruler in all 
the world and the power of the greatest monarch in 
Europe combined against him, the poor peasant of 
Mansfeld had little human or worldly hope. But he 
did not waver. In hours like this he used to nerve 
himself for the battle that was upon him with his own 
war song, his immortal version of the forty-sixth 

A mighty fortress is our God — 
A refuge never failing. 

In this fortress he found shelter and strength and 
safety. All courage is born of faith, and no cour- 
age is so enduring as that which is born of faith in 
God, 



i6o A Life of Martin Luther. 

The papal bull gave him a strange sense of freedom^ 
One of the ruling passions of his life had been his 
loyalty to the Church to which he had given his life. 
Such loyalty could not be broken at once; and he 
could not himself sever the ties of this loyalty. But 
Rome had severed these ties and sent him forth a 
spiritual outcast. Henceforth he was free from all ob- 
ligations to the Romish hierarchy. He was responsible 
to God alone now. His fidelity to the Church had rest- 
ed upon his allegiance to Christ. When, as Luther 
conceived it, the pope undertook to supersede Christ, 
he became antichrist to Luther. 

Of course Luther was never, in all the emergencies 
of his Hfe, without strong and influential friends 
ready and willing to stand by him. Eck discovered 
this when he returned to Germany with the bull of ex- 
communication. In some cities the feeling was so 
strong that he was in danger of being mobbed. He 
said some of the Wittenberg students "treated him in 
a good-for-nothing way." A man who stands for lib- 
erty will always find friends among the people. Lu- 
ther stood for religious and civil liberty, and the com- 
mon people recognized him as their champion. 

Events now followed each other in rapid succession. 
At first Luther refused to accept the genuineness of 
the bull brought back by Eck. But he was soon driven 
from this hope. In November he renewed his appeal 
to a general council. Evidently he had little hope 
from this appeal, otherwise he would not have taken 
his next step. This Vv^as so decided that it made re- 
treat impossible. 



Luther, before the Diet of Worms, i6i 

This step was taken on December ii, 1520. On that 
day, early in the forenoon, a great crowd gathered at 
a place not far from the eastern gate of Wittenberg. 
The papal decretals and all the papal law books were 
piled in a heap on the ground. Luther was accompa- 
nied by Melanchthon and other professors. A torch 
was applied to the heap of books. When the bonfire 
was fully kindled Luther brought forward the bull of 
excommunication against himself and threw it into 
the flames, exclaiming as he did so: ''Since thou hast 
A^exed the Holy One, may eternal fires destroy thee!" 
He afterwards admitted to Staupitz that he trem- 
bled as he did this, but declared that when it was done 
he felt better than he had ever felt before in all his Hfe. 
The students celebrated the event by marching through 
.the streets and earring a great cartoon in the shape of 
a bull, four feet long. 

Conservative Christians of the twentieth century 
may regard this burning of the papal bull as a display 
of a barbaric rather than a Christian spirit. But it 
should be remembered that Luther and his followers 
had learned this use of fire from Rome itself, and had 
not yet learned that other spirit, which Rome has 
never taught — the spirit of toleration and forbearance. 
The growth of Christian sentiment since that memor- 
able day in the sixteenth century has been due to the 
convictions of the men that kindled that bonfire. 

Luther was ready to defend his act. If any wished 
to know why he had burned the papal documents, let 
such a one understand that it was his duty as a baptized 
Christian to defend the Church against all false doc- 



i62 A Life of Martin Luther. 

trines. He had vowed to do this when he had become 
a Doctor of Theology. The pope had assumed all the 
authority of an earthly God. None dared to ask him : 
"What doest thou ?" Was not this "the abomination of 
desolation" spoken of by the Saviour? Was not this 
the antichrist ? In a larger work, addressed to the pub- 
lic, he discusses more at length the issues for which he 
stood, and plants himself uncompromisingly upon the 
authority of the Bible as against the decrees of popes 
and general councils. If any thought him presump- 
tuous, he would say that he was assured that he had 
the Bible on his side. 

And for the first time in all his life Luther was a 
free man. He felt himself fully absolved from all ob- 
ligations to his order. He retained the garb of a monk 
and lodged in the monastery, but he threw off the slav- 
ery of the horcB and other monastic observances. He 
declared that he had enough real work to do without 
these things. Besides preaching and lecturing, he had 
abundant calls to enter the arena of controversy. He 
had a noted literary combat with the Dresden theo- 
logian, Emser. Luther spoke of Emser as a "goat," 
and Emser retorted by calling Luther a "bull." In 
this controversy the issues of the great Reformation 
were thoroughly thrashed out. If the debate had none 
of the refined qualities of academic discussion, it had 
at least the combativeness which attracted popular in- 
terest and attention. The great polemic battles of the 
Church have not been fought in classic Latin or Eng- 
lish or German. As long as men are men, strong faith 
and strong conviction cannot thus be voiced. 



Luther, before the Diet of Worms. 163 

Germany was now in a ferment. Men took up their 
pens for and against Luther, and were ready to take 
up their swords. The nation faced the greatest crisis 
in its history. Political issues were not alone involved. 
The moral and spiritual life of a great people was at 
stake. It was Jehovah's call to the nations. Some of 
them heard it, and rose to enlightenment and power. 
Refusing to hear, other nations sank back into barba- 
rism or reaped the harvest of their folly in blood and 
revolution. Carlyle speaks of France at this time, of 
her rejection of the light of the great Reformation, and 
of the awful judgment that followed in the eighteenth 
century. 

A great battle was raging, and Luther was in the 
forefront of the conflict. The inspiration of potential 
martyrdom was upon him. He believed that the end 
of the world was at hand. He interpreted the prophe- 
cies of Daniel and the second chapter of Thessalonians 
to mean this. Believing that his Lord was at hand, he 
hastened to meet him. For this reason, and because 
he believed that such a method of propagation was 
utterly at variance with the gospel, he discountenanced 
every effort and thought of taking up arms in defense 
of his personal safety and the cause for which he con- 
tended. There was much bloodshed in the aftertime 
in consequence of the great Reformation, but this was 
because Rome invoked the help of the civil power to 
maintain its waning cause. 

The great crisis in the life of Martin Luther was 
now approaching. The papal bull had allowed sixty 
days in which to recant, and in addition suflicient time 



164 A Life of Martin Luther. 

for his recantation to reach Rome. Luther did not re- 
cant. There was nothing for him, therefore, but the 
full and final sentence of excommunication. On Jan- 
uary 3, 1 52 1, the final word was spoken, and Luther 
stood forth an ecclesiastical outlaw. And the papal 
interdict was on all places that might give him shelter. 
Henceforth, so far as Rome could make it so, he was 
driven out like another Cain, to be a fugitive and a 
vagabond in the earth. But Rome was not so merciful 
as was Jehovah to Cain. Rome's mark did not pro- 
tect Martin Luther from death, but was a warrant of 
death against him, virtually authorizing any of the 
faithful to slay him. For years afterward he was m 
imminent danger. Rome's thirsty bloodhounds were 
constantly on his track. 

In the spring of this memorable year he was haled 
before the diet which met at Worms. The princes of 
the empire, presided over by the young emperor, would 
sit in judgment upon the peasant priest who had stirred 
up so much strife in Germany. 

We shall see how Luther met this, the greatest crisis 
of his life. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Luther at the Diet of Worms. 

As we have already seen, the effect of the papal bull 
against Luther and the interdict accompanying it had 
not, up to this time, greatly endangered the personal 
safety of the reformer. This ancient sword of the pa- 
pacy had lost its edge. Once it had been the mightiest 
weapon of the popes. For many centuries a decree of 
this nature had carried terror to the superstitious, 
trouble to kings and princes, and distress to a whole na- 
tion. The unfortunate and unscrupulous John, who 
ruled and misruled in England during the early part of 
the thirteenth century, had brought down upon his 
head and that of his people the interdict. Dire conse- 
quences followed. Churches were closed. Bells were 
taken down from steeples. Sacred emblems were re- 
moved from the altars. Christian burial was denied the 
dead. Marriages were performed only in graveyards. 
Baptism was grudgingly given to newly born infants. 
The shadow of a great curse seemed to hang over the 
land. 

But no such consequences followed the proclamation 
of the bull against Luther in Germany. Eck, who had 
brought it from Rome, was laughed at and lampooned 
by the students of the universities. The dignitaries 
of the Church received him with scant favor. In many 
places the bull was not published at all. Miltitz, who 
resented the interference of Eck in a matter that had 

(165) 



i66 A Life of Martin Luther. 

been intrusted to him, gave little comfort to the of- 
ficious doctor of Leipsic. Poor Miltitz ended his mis- 
sion and his career in a most ignoble way not long 
afterwards. While intoxicated he fell into the Rhine 
and was drowned. Thus perished the German cham- 
berlain and trusted envoy of Leo. 

The favor of the nobility and the best class among 
the scholars of Germany rendered the bull against Lu- 
ther a practical nullity. He went on with his work un- 
molested and with buoyant spirits. A wondrous trans- 
formation had taken place in Germany within a few 
years. The seeds of truth never found a readier soil. 
The great Reformation had virtually taken place. Ger- 
many had really broken, at least in spirit, with the 
papacy. But Leo found an ally in Charles. The young 
emperor had German blood in his veins, but he did not 
have the heart of a German. He did not have even a 
thorough acquaintance with the German language. He 
put a higher estimate upon his prerogatives as king of 
Spain and Naples than upon his title and restricted 
power as emperor of Germany. He believed in the 
Roman Catholic faith with all his soul. He was still 
young, and the young are often more bigoted than 
the old. 

But Charles was a prudent person for his age, and 
while he would have been willing enough to turn Lu- 
ther over to the tender mercies of the pope, he was 
wise enough to recognize the fact that the matter was 
more serious than the obduracy of just one man, and 
he too no high dignitary in the Church. The estates 
of Germany were too favorable to Luther's conten- 



Luther at the Diet of Worms, 167 

tlons, and too rebellious at heart against the pope, for 
any sumimary disposal of the issues involved. What 
was done must be done with the consent of the Ger- 
man princes. A diet was summoned, and met at 
Worms on January 28, 1521. 

Worms is a famous old German city in Hesse- 
Darmstadt, on the left bank of the historic Rhine. ' In 
modern times it has lost much of its ancient standing, 
its population being less than one-fourth of what it was 
about the time Martin Luther was summoned to ap- 
pear before the diet here in the spring of 1521. Char- 
lemagne and his successors used to tarry here with 
their courts in the olden times, and associated with the 
place is a famous old German epic poem, made up 
probably of other older poems, and known to readers 
of old German literature as the "Nibelungenlied." The 
massive cathedral was finished during the twelfth cen- 
tury, after being in process of building nearly four 
hundred years. The city has never fully recovered 
from its almost total destruction by the French in 1689, 
and the new city does not occupy precisely the same 
site as the old Worms. A monument, completed in 
1868, commemorates Luther's appearance before the 
diet here, really the greatest event in the history of 
the old city. 

The diet was not an elective body, but was really 
feudal in its origin. In the time of Luther it was com- 
posed of the princes of the several independent States 
and free cities of Germany, which were united in the 
strong confederation known as the German Empire. 
The diet sat twice a year, and the emperor, who was 



1 68 A Life of Martin Luther. 

chosen by the diet, whenever there was a vacancy, pre- 
sided over its dehberations. The emperor could veto 
any measure adopted by the diet, but he could not mod- 
ify any of its measures. And he could not enact laws 
without the consent of the diet. This ancient assembly 
no longer exists. 

This was the august body before which Luther ap- 
peared at the command of Charles. The decision to 
summon Luther before the body was not reached until 
the matter had been debated long and anxiously. Those 
who favored the papal contentions opposed the sum- 
moning of Luther There were obvious reasons for 
their opposition. Luther had been condemned by the 
pope. This ought to suffice for the emperor and the 
diet. An appearance before the diet would have in 
it somiething of the nature of an allowed appeal, and 
such a heretic deserved no such right. It was finally 
decided to summon Luther before the diet, not for 
the purpose of trial, but merely to give him an oppor- 
tunity to recant. 

Luther had notified Frederick that he would go if 
summoned by the emperor. 'Tf he calls me," he said, 
*''it is my duty to go." His friends sought to dissuade 
him. They assured him that he would be in imminent 
danger. The treachery in the case of Huss was re- 
called. Luther was immovable. If the emperor sum- 
moned him, he regarded it as his duty to go ; and Mar- 
tin Luther was not the man to turn back from the path- 
way of duty. God still lived, and his trust was in him. 
His enemies could burn only his body; they could not 
burn the truth. 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. 169 

He received the expected call to appear before the 
diet in March. A royal herald brought the summons. 
Luther proceeded at once to prepare for the journey. 
His friends still reminding him of the danger, he de- 
clared : "I will go if I must be carried on my sick bed."' 
And later, when told of the imminence of the danger, 
he met the statement with the famous declaration : "I 
will go to Worms even if there are as many devils there 
as there are tiles on the houses !" 

Luther set out for Worms late in March. The city 
of Wittenberg furnished him a carriage and horses. 
He was accompanied by a little cavalcade of his friends, 
and his journey was like a triumphal march. Every- 
where the people hailed him with delight. They were 
curious to see the man who had spoken and written so 
boldly against the pope. At Erfurt he had a royal 
welcome. He preached in the old church where he 
had worshiped in other days. The people crowded to 
hear him. There was a crash in the gallery, and the 
people were in a panic. Luther quieted them by telling 
them that it was the devil trying to break up the meet- 
ing. This was Luther's ready explanation of many 
things that happened in his life. The students here had 
thrown the papal bull into the water and, playing upon 
the word, challenged it as it was a ''bubble," to float. 
His old friend Crotus was the rector of 'the university 
at that time. He hastened to meet Luther some distance 
from the city, and welcorned him as the defender of 
the truth. Luther said modestly that he was not worthy 
of ^such honor. In his sermon, which was on his favor- 
ite theme of salvation by faith, he spoke of his present 



l^o A Life of Martin Luther, 

situation : "I will speak the truth, and I must speak it/* 
he said. ''For this reason I am here." 

He preached at Eisenach, tenderly associated with 
his school days, and afterwards fell sick. He was so 
ill that his friends became alarmed about his condition. 
But bleeding, the specific for all diseases in those days 
and for many days afterwards, was resorted to, and 
the next day, though still weak and sick, he went on his 
way. Rumors and other evidences of danger increased 
as he approached his destination. He saw posted an 
edict from Charles consigning his work to the flames 
because he had been condemned by the pope as a her- 
etic. Whatever hope he may have had at this time as 
to any favor from the emperor was now finally dissi- 
pated. 

But his enemies were also alarmed. They feared the 
effect of his appearance before the diet. Somehow, 
even when men honestly believe a falsehood, the error 
unconsciously reacts in an unfavorable way upon their 
courage. Besides, miany of Luther's opponents were 
not sincere, except in their purpose to destroy him. 
Rome has always believed more in fear and force than 
in fair play and justice. Since Luther could not be in- 
timidated and thus kept away from the diet, Glaplo, 
Charles's confessor, and Archbishop Albert determined 
to resort to a ruse to prevent his coming and at the 
same time get him fully in their hands. These astute 
gentlemen sent a messenger to Franz von Sickingen, 
the friend who had offered Luther exile and protection, 
proposing that Luther meet their representatives in the 
castle of the old nobleman. The messenger said that 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. 171 

these ecclesiastics thought well of Luther, and that the 
differences between him and them could be adjusted in 
a peaceable way. Luther and their representatives 
would be under the protection of Sickingen. The ruse 
deceived the honest old German and Bucer, one of Lu- 
ther's sympathizers, who had taken up his lodging in 
the castle, and Luther was notified hastily of the pro- 
posed conference and urged to turn aside for the pur- 
pose. Luther was making his journey to Worms under 
a safe-conduct from the emperor, and if he had yield- 
ed to this arrangement, he could not have made his way 
thither in the prescribed time. He would thus have 
forfeited the protection of Charles, and his enemies, 
who were fully alert, could have arrested him at once. 
Luther refused to accede to this cunningly devised 
plan and continued his journey. At night, as he lodged 
in the inns by* the way, he would take his flute and 
solace himself with its soft melody. The man's soul 
went out in its notes, now hopeful, now sorrowful, 
and always trustful and full of the repose of a son of 
God who is at peace with his Father. Memories of his 
childhood, tender thoughts of his parents, recollec- 
tions of his strange, divinely guided life, the friend- 
ships he had formled, the truth he had found, the 
threatening future before him — thoughts like these 
must have swept through his mind as he touched the 
stops of his favorite instrument in the gathering shad- 
ows of the lengthening spring twilight. David of old, 
when fleeing from Saul, comforted his soiil with his 
shepherd's harp. Martin Luther, going perhaps to 
his death, gathered strength from the notes of his flute 



1^2 A Life of Martin Luther. 

for the ordeal awaiting him. Great reformations and 
great revivals would be impossible without sacred mu- 
sic. 

A still greater trial awaited Luther before reaching 
Worms. A short distance from the city he received a 
letter from Spalatin urging him not to come. As Spa- 
latin might be supposed to speak for the elector, this 
was serious indeed. But Luther could not be moved. 
He wondered at his own courage afterwards, and said 
that he was not sure that he would be equal to such an 
emergency again. There is a courage of sudden im- 
pulse; there is also the courage of deliberate purpose. 
The one is daring, heedless, often blind ; the other is 
cool, steady, and fully conscious of the danger in- 
volved. The one may waver ; the other does not falter. 
The faith, the purpose, the resolve of years entered 
into Luther's courage at this moment of destiny, and a 
divine anointing was on the man. 

Luther entered Worms on the morning of the i6th. 
A company of his friends had ridden out to meet him. 
A great crowd gathered at the gate to see him. Two 
thousand people followed him in the streets. Men of 
all ranks thronged about him. It was as if a royal 
prince had entered the city. The enthusiasm was great- 
er than when the emperor had come. A court jester 
entered the procession with a cross and chanted a requi- 
em. Possibly this fool of royal patronage thought to 
play prophet. Some gentlemen of the court of Fred- 
erick escorted him to the house of the Knights of St. 
John, where he was to lodge with two counselors of 
the elector. As he stepped from his carriage he said : 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. 173 

"God will be with me." Alexander, one of the papal 
representatives, writing to Rome, said that he looked 
around with the eyes of a demon. More than once 
Luther's flashing eyes had struck terror to the 
hearts of his enemies. 

He was to appear before the diet the next day. This 
august body met in the palace of the bishop, not far 
from his lodgings. Here the emperor held his court 
for the time. Luther was conducted to the place by 
side streets, the crowd being so great along the direct 
route as to make this necessary. He waited two hours 
after reaching the palace before being admitted to the 
audience hall. As he was going into the hall, tradition 
says that a famous old warrior, George von Frunds- 
berg, slapped him on the shoulder and said cheeringly : 
"My poor monk ! My poor monk ! Thou art on thy 
way to make such a stand as I and my knights have 
never made in our toughest battles. If thou art sure 
of the justice of thy cause, then forward in the name of 
God, and be of good courage! God will not forsake 
thee !" 

The elector had given him as his lawyer Jerome 
Schurf, his Wittenberg friend and associate. The pope 
was represented by an attorney named Eck, but not the 
Dr. Eck who had given Luther so much trouble in the 
past. 

At last he was called before the body. The scene 
was enough to embarrass a bolder man. Before him 
were the princes of all Germany, and the most powerful 
sovereign in all Europe — and he was not before this 
great assembly to receive honors, nor as the represen- 



174 A Life of Martin Luther. 

tative of an honored cause. True, there were among 
the members some who sympathized with him, and 
many close at hand who were his ardent friends. 
Against him was the Church, hoary with age, well- 
nigh supreme in power, and waiting only for an oppor- 
tunity to mete out to him the severest penalties ever 
visited upon the condemned heads of heretics. More- 
over, he stood at the bar of the monarch who had only 
but yesterday pronounced sentence against him, and 
who declared that he was ready to give his life and his 
royal treasures to execute the Church's displeasure upon 
such a heretic. Above all, the cause for which he had 
already borne so much was vitally involved. Had Lu- 
ther wavered at this moment, the cause of the great 
Reformation might have been delayed a hundred years. 
No sublimer crisis has occurred in human history since 
Jesus stood before Pilate. Human courage, reenforced 
and sanctified by divine grace, has never been put to 
a severer test. 

The hearing of the first day was short. Eck, the pa- 
pal representative, put two questions to Luther. "Are 
you the author of these books ?" he asked first, pointing 
to some volumes on a bench. Luther's attorney inter- 
posed at this point, and demanded that the titles of the 
books be read. This was done, and Luther acknowl- 
edged their authorship. "Are you willing to retract the 
contents of these books ?" was the imperious challenge 
of the ecclesiastical attorney. 

This summary way of dealing with the question took 
Luther by surprise, and his answer was given in a low, 
hesitating voice. He said that in a matter of such mo- 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. 175 

ment he did not feel prepared to answer the question 
at once, and begged for time to consider. There was 
a brief conference, and then Luther was informed that 
the emperor had graciously granted his request. After 
this he was allowed to retire under escort, with the 
understanding that he would give his answer the next 
day. 

An anxious night followed. Luther realized that he 
would not be allowed to plead for a cause that was so 
dear to his heart, and that the only hope before him, 
speaking and seeing as men see, was in complying with 
the peremptory demand of the papal representative for 
immediate retraction of the things that he had written 
and spoken concerning the way of salvation. And we 
may be well assured that this man, who had learned to 
find God, not by way of popes and saints, living and 
dead, but by the way of the Mediator between God and 
men, the man Christ Jesus, sought the help of the One 
for whom he was to witness on the morrow, it might 
be even unto death. 

The morrow came, and with it the great ordeal of 
Martin Luther's life. And his courage rose grandly to 
the occasion. Whatever errtbarrassment he may have 
felt on the first day was all gone now. He went to 
the meeting place of the diet about the middle of the 
afternoon, but the April night was closing in before he 
was given an audience. It was the i8th day of April, 
1 52 1. While he waited he talked cheerfully and freely 
with one of the high officials of the diet — his friend and 
patron at Augsburg, Peutinger. After waiting two 
hours, he was admitted to the hall where the diet sat 



176 A Life of Martin Luther. 

ready Lo iicar him and, so far as he knew, to condemn 
him. 

Eck began at once to censure him for asking time to 
consider his answer. He then put the second question 
of the previous day in a modified and reasonable form. 
*'Dost thou defend all the books thou dost acknowledge 
to be thine, or recant some parts ?" asked the papal at- 
torney. 

Luther answered these questions specifically and 
courageously. He spoke in Latin to accommodate 
Charles, who had little knowledge of German, and no 
taste whatever for that tongue. His words have been 
preserved, and are worthy of being kept in everlast- 
ing remembrance. This was his defense : 

Most serene Emperor, and you illustrious Princes and gra- 
cious Lords, I this day appear before you in all humility, ac- 
cording to your command, and I implore your majesty and 
your august highness, by the mercies of God to listen with fa- 
vor to the defense of a cause which I am well assured is just 
and right. I ask pardon if, by reason of my ignorance, I am 
wanting in manners which befit a court, for I have not been 
brought up in kings' palaces, but in the seclusion of a cloister. 

Two questions were yesterday put to me by his imperial 
majesty. The first, whether I was the author of the books 
whose titles were read ; the second, whether I wished to re- 
voke or defend the doctrine I have taught. I answered the 
first, and I adhere to that answer. 

As to the second, I have composed writings on very dif- 
ferent subjects. In some I have discussed faith and good 
works in a spirit at once so pure, clear, and Christian that even 
my adversaries themselves, far from finding anything to cen- 
sure, confess that these writings are profitable and deserve to 
be perused by devout persons. The pope's bull, violent as it 
is, acknowledges this. What, then, should I be doing if I were 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. 177 

to retract these writings ! Wretched man ! I alone of all men 
living should be abandoning truths approved by the unanimous 
voice of friends and enemies, and opposing doctrines that the 
whole world glories in confessing. 

I have composed, secondly, certain works against popery, 
wherein I have attacked such as by false doctrines, irregular 
lives, and scandalous examples afflict the Christian world and 
ruin the bodies and souls of men. And is not this confirmed 
by the grief of all who fear God? Is it not manifest that the 
laws and human doctrines of the pope entangle, vex, and dis- 
tress the consciences of the faithful, whilst the crying and end- 
less extortions of Rome engulf the property and wealth of 
Christendom, and more particularly of this illustrious nation ? 

If I were to revoke what I have written on that subject, 
what should 1 do but strengthen this tyranny and open a 
wider door to so many and flagrant impieties ? Bearing down 
all resistance with fresh fury, we should behold these proud 
men swell, foam, and rage more than ever. And not merely 
would the yoke which now weighs down Christians be made 
more grinding by my retraction, it would thereby become, 
so to speak, lawful; for by my retraction it would receive 
confirmation from your most serene majesty and all the 
States of the empire. Great God ! I should be like an in- 
famous cloak, used to hide and cover over every kind of 
malice and tyranny. 

In the third and last place, I have written some books 
against private individuals who had undertaken to defend the 
tyranny of Rome by destroying the faith. I freely confess 
that I may have attacked such persons with more violence 
than was consistent with my profession as an ecclesiastic. I 
do not think myself as a saint, but neither can I retract these 
books, because I should by so doing sanction the impieties of 
my opponents, and they would thence take occasion to crush 
God's people with still more cruelty. 

Yet, as I am a mere man and not God, I will defend my- 
self after the example of Jesus Christ, who said : "If I have 
spoken evil, bear witness against me." How much more 



178 A Life of Martin Luther. 

should I, who am but dust and ashes and so prone to error, 
desire that every one should bring forward what he can 
against my doctrine. 

Therefore, most serene emperor and you illustrious princes 
and all, whether high or low, who hear me, I implore you by 
the mercies of God to prove to me by the writings of the 
prophets and apostles that I am in error. As soon as I shall 
be convinced I will instantly retract all my errors, and will 
myself be the first to seize my writings and commit them to 
the flames. 

What I have just said I think will clearly show that I have 
well considered and weighed the dangers to which I am 
exposing myself; but, far from being dismayed by them, I 
rejoice exceedingly to see the gospel as of old a cause of 
disturbance and disagreement. It is the character and destiny 
of God's Word. "I came not to send peace, but a sword," saith 
Jesus Christ. God is wonderful and awful in his counsels. 
Let us have a care, lest in our endeavors to arrest discord 
we be found to fight against the Holy Word of God and bring 
down upon our heads a frightful deluge of inextricable dangers, 
present disaster, and everlasting desolations. Let us have a 
care lest the reign of the young and noble prince, the Emperor 
Charles, on whom, next to God, we build so many hopes, 
should not only commence but continue and terminate its 
course under the most fatal auspices. I might cite examples, 
drawn from the oracles of God. I might speak of Pharaoh, 
of kings of Babylon, of Israel, who were never more con- 
tributing to their own ruin than when by measures in appear- 
ance most prudent they sought to establish their authority! 
God removeth the mountains, and they know not. 

In speaking thus I do not suppose that such noble princes 
have need of my poor judgment; but I wish to acquit myself 
of a duty that Germany has a right to expect from her chil- 
dren. And so, commending myself to your august majesty 
and your most serene highnesses, I beseech you in all humility 
not to permit the hatred of my enemies to rain upon me an 
indignation I have not deserved. 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. 179 

After Luther had finished this address and had re- 
peated it in German the prince held a short consulta- 
tion, and then Eck, speaking for the emperor, re- 
buked him sharply for calling in question the decisions 
of councils and relying upon Scriptures to sustain his 
heresies, already adjudged as such by Rome. He 
then demanded an answer "without horns." 

This evidently aroused the hot-blooded Luther. 
"Since you ask it," said the reformer, "you shall have 
an answer without horns or teeth. I cannot and will 
not retract anything." He declared that he could not 
allow councils to dictate his faith; they had not been 
consistent with themselves. Eck denied this, and Lu- 
ther declared his readiness to prove it. Badgered fur- 
ther by the papal attorney, he uttered those famous 
words : "Unless I be convinced by Scripture and reason, 
I neither can nor dare retract anything, for my con- 
science is a captive to God's Word. And it is neither 
safe nor right to go against conscience. There I take 
my stand. I can do no otherwise. God help me! 
Amen." 

This defense was the Magna Charta of Protestant- 
ism. It asserted the superiority of the Bible over 
popes and general councils. It declared the right of 
private judgment. It announced the freedom of faith. 
It set at naught the teachings of the Romish hierarchy 
for ten centuries. Its boldness and clearness of per- 
ception astonish us even now. 

Of course the address made a profound impression. 
There was a moral grandeur about the man that over- 
awed the assembly. Friends and foes alike were 



i8o A Life of Martin Luther. 

astonished. Luther's manner was thoroughly devout. 
He spoke as one who is inspired. Even Charles was 
impressed, though by no means convinced. Only the 
Italians and Spaniards present mocked. Some open 
friends and more secret ones were made. The ar- 
raignment of Luther — the noble, undaunted champion 
— before this assembly of princes only forwarded the 
cause for which he stood. 

After Luther's hearing before the diet he was ac- 
companied to his quarters by two officers. This fact 
led to the impression that he had been spirited away 
as a prisoner, and much concern was felt by his 
friends. But he suffered no harm at the hands of his 
guard, and the emperor kept faith with him in the 
matter of his personal protection. Charles's Romish 
advisers counseled a different course, urging that a 
promise made a heretic was not binding, and that the 
interests of the Church demanded that Luther should 
be disposed of at once. And Catholic historians have 
asserted, and seemed to take special pleasure in the 
record, that late in life Charles regretted that he did 
not arrest Luther at once and turn him over to the 
will of the Romish hierarchy. Thus the Roman Catho- 
lic Church has not been satisfied with influencing the 
whole life of Charles and the administration of his 
temporal power; the Church covers his name with in- 
famy in order to show his loyalty. 

Luther returned to his lodgings rejoicing in spirit. 
The man who saves his life at the expense of con- 
science may find pleasure; the deeper joy is his who 
places all upon the altar of his faith. "Thank God, it 



Luther at the Diet of Worms. i8i 

is over !" he exclaimed repeatedly. And his friends 
rejoiced with him. Frederick was delighted with his 
courage. The old Duke of Brunswick, though not an 
adherent, sent him refreshments as a token of his sym- 
pathy with his spirit. 

Another and final effort was made to reach a settle- 
ment of the dispute. Some of the highest dignitaries in 
the Church in Germany made advances to Luther. 
They proposed that if he would make such admissions 
as they suggested, the matter could be arranged with 
Charles, and the peace of the Church and nation pre- 
served. Luther was not obdurate, but he saw no place 
for either retreat or compromise. The effort at a settle- 
ment therefore came to nothing. 

Luther asked permission of Charles to return to 
Wittenberg, and the request was granted. He set off 
for home and his work after tarrying some ten days in 
Worms. But he did not reach there in several months. 
He disappeared on his way to his old quarters, and for 
a long and anxious season neither his friends nor his 
enemies knewi his whereabouts or his fate. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Luther at the Wartburg, and After. 

As willing as Frederick was to protect Luther in 
his work and residence at Wittenberg, he realized that 
if the emperor issued a decree against the reformer 
making fully effective the ban of the pope, it would be 
difficult, if not impossible, for him to save Luther from 
capture. The imperial edict came soon enough, but 
not until Luther had left Womis. It was dated the 
8th of May, but was not issued until twenty days later. 
Its proclamation was postponed until after many of 
the members of the diet had taken their departure, and 
yet, when it was published, it purported to have the 
unanimous approval of the body. It was drawn by 
Alexander, one of the papal representatives, and was 
drastic enough to satisfy all the demands of the papacy. 
It put the ban and double ban upon Luther, and for- 
bade all places and persons from sheltering him or 
aiding him in any way. All loyal subjects were com- 
manded to arrest him and to deliver him up to the 
emperor, which of course meant his delivery to his 
Romish foes. If this imperial mandate had been exe- 
cuted ^lartin Luther the great reformer would also 
have been Martin Luther the martyr. Luther knew 
this. In his address before the Diet of Worms he made 
no whining appeal for mercy, and afterwards, in the 
exultation of soul that followed the hour of his trial 
and of his triumph as well, he declared that if he had a 

(182) 



Luther at the IVavthnrg, and After. 183 

hundred heads, he would suffer them all to be cut off 
before he would recant. 

But the fact must be noted again that the Romish 
representatives and Charles, who was under their in- 
fluence, showed a surprising degree of forbearance to- 
ward Luther. In the last chapter mention was made 
of the final effort to bring Luther to such concessions 
as would render it possible for the emperor to extend 
him his favor and protection. In this effort the Arch- 
bishop of Treves, a worthy ecclesiastic, had taken a 
leading part. Luther had appealed to a general coun- 
cil. The parties who conducted the negotiations with 
Luther offered to secure this, though they knew that 
the pope would not readily consent. Luther refused to 
submit to even the decision of the general council, if its 
decisions were not fully sustained by Scripture. In 
fact, it was his insistence on the authority of the Bi- 
ble that finally determined the issue. "Why appeal to 
the Bible ?" exclaimed Eck. "That is the source of all 
heresies." Alexander and Cochlseus, as well as other 
Romanists, took part in the various private confer- 
ences. The opinion Alexander entertained of Luther 
was fully expressed in the imperial edict, which he 
prepared. In this document Luther was characterized 
as Satan himself, a madman, a person who taught trea- 
son to the State and disloyalty and destruction to Chris- 
tianity itself; in fact, the vocabulary of Romish denun- 
ciation was drawn upon in full measure to furnish epi- 
thets against the recalcitrant Luther. 

Luther left Worms on the 26th of April (Friday 
morning). His safe-conduct allowed him twenty-one 



184 A Life of Martin Luther. 

days for his return journey, but forbade his preaching 
by the way. Much history had been made during those 
epochal days in Worms. Perhaps it would be too much 
to say that the fate of the great Reformation depended 
upon his decision and conduct before the diet. The 
movement had progressed so far now that its success 
or failure did not hinge upon any one man's life or 
death. It is not too much to say, however, that if Lu- 
ther had yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon 
him at Worms (pressure of every conceivable sort) 
the mighty movement would have been retarded, though 
it could never have been defeated. Two factors usually 
control in all popular movements — personal leadership 
and the principles embodied in the movement. The 
outcome of a political or moral revolution is always un- 
certain when the personal element enters into it more 
than does the question of principle. The empire of 
Napoleon fell with his downfall. England returned by 
natural gravitation to the sway of the Stuarts after the 
death of Oliver Cromwell. Martin Luther, while the 
real leader of the Reformation, never asjjired to lead- 
ership nor to place of prominence ; and the truths for 
which he stood were always more powerful in the 
movement than was his personality. Hence as impor- 
tant as his leadership, that leadership was not abso- 
lutely essential to the movement at this stage of its 
history and henceforward. 

Luther parted tenderly with his friends at Worms. 
Some score of them accompanied him as he took his 
leave of a place that would be famous in all the after- 
time because of his fidelity to his convictions and his 



Luther at the Warthurg, and After. 185 

sublime moral courage in the memorable scene before 
the great assembly of princes met there to decide his 
fate and the fate of the great Reformation. Sturm, a 
royal herald, accompanied him for some distance. This 
official was won over to the truth as Luther saw and 
taught it, and when Luther dismissed him the two em- 
braced each other. Luther, like Paul, had won an- 
other Onesimus in bonds. All along the way Luther 
was received with distinguished honors. Churches 
were opened to him. At Hirschfield the abbot re- 
ceived him most affectionately, and he preached in the 
church despite the emperor's orders to the contrary. 
At Eisenach, too, he proclaimed the gospel to his old 
friends. The youth that had sung for his bread on 
the streets was now dispensing the bread of life to 
some, perhaps, who had been kind to him in the strug- 
gling days of his poverty. 

After leaving Worms, Luther wrote a most respect- 
ful letter to the emperor. In it he defines his attitude 
toward the temporal powers in a way that harmonizes 
thoroughly with the teachings of Scripture. He as- 
sures Charles that he is willing to render him all possi- 
ble obedience, the only limit to that obedience being the 
authority of God's Word. This contention and de- 
fense, as true and just as they were, and as manifestly 
so to us, could make no effective appeal to a man who 
had turned over the keeping of his conscience to a 
Church that refused then, as now, to recognize the 
supreme authority of the Bible. 

He wrote a letter of similar import to the members 
of the diet, and thus to the German people. In a let- 



i86 A Life of Martin Luther. 

ter to Spalatin he justifies his preaching, which was a 
clear violation of his instructions from the emperor, 
on the ground that the gospel cannot be restrained by 
any human authority. 

Leaving Eisenach, he turned aside to see some of 
his father's relatives at Mohra. After a short stay 
with them, where he received a welcome that was es- 
pecially grateful to his feelings at this time, he re- 
sumed his journey. He was accompanied by his 
brother James and .Vmsdorf, and one or two others. 
At a lonely spot in the Thuringian Forest, near an 
abandoned old chapel, where the road runs through a 
dark ravine following the winding course of a small 
stream, the company was suddenly set upon by a num- 
ber of masked men, who with rough language demand- 
ed the surrender of Luther, and helped him, not too 
gently, to dismount from his vehicle. The other mem- 
bers of Luther's party fled precipitately, and the coach- 
man used to tell how Luther himself was in such great 
haste that he left behind him a white hat he had been 
wearing. The coachman himself whipped his horses 
into a gallop and got away from the spot as fast as 
possible. The stories these fugitives told caused wide- 
' spread alarm, and the impression became general that 
the enemies of Luther had captured and made way with 
him. 

In the meantime Luther himself was well cared for. 
His captors furnished him a horse to ride, and pro- 
ceeded, with many intentional wanderings through the 
woods so as to evade all possible pursuit, to the old 
castle of the Wartburg, which stood on a high hill over- 



Luther at the Wartburg, and After. 187 

looking Eisenach, some eight miles away, and much 
of the surrounding country. The company reached this 
retreat about ten o'clock at night. Luther was much 
fatigued. He was not an experienced horseman, and 
this rough ride through the dark wood well-nigh ex- 
hausted him. Once he was allowed to dismount and 
rest on the ground a while, and he drank water from a 
spring which is still called Luther's spring. 

The castle of the Wartburg, where Luther now 
found himself in quasi captivity, had a history of its 
own. It was five hundred years old. Here some cen- 
turies before a famous contest had taken place among 
the minnesingers, those wandering bards and musi- 
cians of the Middle Ages. Here Elizabeth, one of the 
most honored of the German saints of the Catholic 
Church, had lived in other days. Now it was to be- 
come for a memorable while the home and hiding-place 
of Martin Luther — his Patmos, as he called it. It was 
an ideal retreat. All about were forest-clad hills, with 
little valleys between, rejoicing now in the fast green- 
ing foliage of a German May, and ringing with the 
melody of birds — the nightingale and the lark and 
their companions — who had come again from the far 
south to make glad the summertime of the north. 
There were flowers, too, of which Luther was always 
fond, and the dawn and the stars looked into his room 
through windows that were more hospitable to the light 
than the windows of his monastery. He loved nature 
in all her moods and seasons. In day and night, in 
spring and summer and autumn and winter, in wood 
and field and stream, and in sky and cloud and storm 



i88 A Life of Martin Luther. 

he saw the hand of God, and heard his voice in bird- 
songs, the murmur of the wind and brook, and the 
peaHng thunders of the summer clouds echoing among 
the hills about the old castle. 

And he was safe. As a knight-prisoner the emis- 
saries of the pope and the officials of the emperor 
would not molest him. Only a few knew his where- 
abouts. This was Frederick's plan for saving him from 
the hands of the Romanists. Some have thought that 
even Luther himself did not know how all this came 
about : but this seems improbable. Indeed, it is prac- 
tically certain that he was in the elector's confidence in 
the scheme, and that he was a willing captive in the 
hands of the best political friend he had ever had. 
All Germany wondered where he was. His friends 
charged the Romanists with foul play. A deeper re- 
sentment was thus aroused against those who had 
sought to crush him. In hiding he helped the cause 
more than in public. 

Mis entertainment was royal. This son of a peasant 
had never fared so well in all his life before. His table 
was well supplied with substantials and dainties, and 
he says that two sons of noblemen served him at table. 
The poor ascetic was not accustomed to such a mode of 
life, to such luxuries and dainties, and evidently suf- 
fered from dyspepsia in consequence of his rich fare. 
Some of the traditions about his life here are not au- 
thentic. For instance, the old story about his seeing 
the devil and throwing his inkstand at him is not well 
sustained. But he certainly passed through many 
mental and spiritual struggles, some of which were 



Luther at the Wartburg, and After. 189 

due to his unwonted indulgence in high hving. Not 
many men have been wise enough ahvays to distinguish 
between their depression or elation, superinduced by 
physical causes, and those purely spiritual states which 
are caused by influences that are outside the body itself. 
The religion of the nerves is largely even yet an un- 
explored realm. Some have regarded Luther's faith 
in the powers of Satan as excessively realistic; but it 
at least saved him from gross superstition. He heard 
strange noises in his room at night. A bag of nuts 
would become strangely active and noisy. Practical 
people have suggested that rats were the disturbing 
cause. Perhaps the rodents about the Wartburg 
were larger, because better fed, than those which in- 
fested the monastic quarters of Luther at Wittenberg. 
Luther discarded all such facts and conjectures and 
settled the matter at once by attributing the sounds to 
the devil himself. But he believed in the divine more 
than in the human and the diabolical, so he was saved 
from hopeless, helpless alarm. True faith i^the only 
remedy for superstition; but true faith has had to 
shake off many a fungus growth. 

Luther enjoyed great freedom at the castle. He 
left off his monkish garb, grew an ample beard, went 
hunting, and was so changed in appearance that his 
most intimate friends would hardly have known him. 
He dressed as a knight, wore a sword at his side, and 
was known as Squire George. 

But he did something m'ore than live a round of 
luxurious indolence. In no period of his life was he 
more active, and some of the monumental work of his 



IQO A Life of Martin Luther. 

marvelous career was done during those months in this 
castle home. 

It was several months after Luther's sequestration 
before his friends and his foes knew the place of his 
concealment. But it was not very long before his foes 
especialh' knew that he was neither dead nor dumb. He 
evidently had constant though clandestine communica- 
cation with the outside world. He was in regular cor- 
respondence with Spalatin. He also wrote to many of 
his friends. He knew what was going on in the 
Churches, and he took the keenest possible interest in 
everything connected with the great movement. Many 
pamphlets and other publications found their way 
from his hiding place to the printer and to the people. 
Archbishop Albert had ventured to reinstitute the sale 
of indulgences, the proceeds of which were to furnish 
means for fighting the Turks. Luther assailed him 
fiercely. Albert replied in a mild letter, written with 
his own hand. The soft answer did not turn away 
Luther's wrath. He threatened that if the sale of in- 
dulgences was not discontinued he would publish a 
book he had written which was damaging to Albert. 1 le 
sent this in manuscript to Frederick through Spalatin. 
They evidently thought the book too radical for pubh- 
cation. Luther grew impatient, and wrote a letter to 
Spalatin that was more positive than polite. The man 
had no cringing, fawning spirit in his nature. Possi- 
bly this was why some princes and nobles honored him. 
Men may love flatter}-, but they despise the flatterer. 

The most important work done by Luther at the 
Wartburg (and he did hardly anything as important in 



Luther at the Wartburg, and After. 191 

his whole Hfe) was the translation of the Bible into the 
vernacular German. He did not complete this work 
here, but made a substantial beginning on the New Tes- 
tament. This German New Testament was given to 
the German-speaking peoples in the autumn of the fol- 
lowing year (1522). The whole Bible came later. 
With the Bible in the hands of the people, Rome could 
never again exercise supreme power in Germany. No 
people have ever become, and none have ever remained 
solidly. Catholic among whom the Bible has had free 
and unrestricted circulation. Such a thing is a moral 
impossibility. One can easily understand why Rome 
has made so many bonfires out of Bibles. 

Luther's German Bible gave permanency to the Ger- 
man language. The contention of Max Miiller that a 
language must grow or die may be more than a half 
truth; but the growth of language, like all other 
growths, must gather about a nucleus of life. Luther's 
Bible gave that nucleus to the German language. In 
making his translation he was controlled by one very 
important principle : he and his helpers did not make a 
literal translation of the Greek and Hebrew Bible into 
German. Every language has its idioms. Literal trans- 
lations may help scholars and students, but they do not 
help the common people. More than one modern trans- 
lation of the Bible has been marred by an effort to turn 
Greek and Hebrew idioms into English or German. 

The weeks and months went by. Luther naturally 
grew impatient. The battle was raging, and he longed 
to take a hand in it. But the elector restrained him. 
He was free to go where he chose inside the enclosure 



192 A Life of Martin Luther. 

about the castle, but when he went outside he was at- 
tended by one of the castle guards, who kept a sort of 
watch over him. This attendant protected him from 
danger, and prevented him from gratifying an impulse 
that came to him more than once to throw himself into 
the struggle that he knew was going on. But he had 
his recreations. He gathered strawberries. He found 
interest in birds and plants and trees. In August he 
went with his friend on a two-day hunt. "We caught 
a few hares and partridges," he says ; "a pretty occupa- 
tion for idle people." A poor hare, chased by the 
hounds, found tcmi)orary shelter in his sleeve. After- 
wards the dogs captured it, and Luther reasoned about 
it after his usual manner. Poor hares were like poor 
human beings that were constantly falling into the 
hands of the devil. 

The great Reformation went on apace, and the master 
hand that had set the movement going was needed to 
guide it in its course. The doings of the diet were 
published in great broadsheets, with wood cuts and 
Luther's defense in full, and were circulated by thou- 
sands. Men read and admired and opened their eyes in 
amazement. After all, then, the pope was no God, and 
the Romish hierarchy was not omnipotent. "Luther 
had smitten the idol, and men saw that it was only a 
painted image." ^len laugh at their own superstitions 
when the fear is gone. The danger now was not re- 
version but revulsion. Dissolution and destruction are 
always more rapid than construction. Institutions a 
thousand years old perished in a day. The monasteries 
were deserted. Monks and nuns quit their cloisters. 



Luther at the IVartburg, mid After. 193 

Priests began to marry. The spirit of independence was 
everywhere. The tie that bound men to Rome was 
their superstition. This was broken forever in Ger- 
many. Other nations were casting off the bond. Lu- 
ther, now a quasi prisoner, had unwittingly set many 
another prisoner free. Men went farther than Luther 
had gone. In future his hand was more frequently on 
the brake and on the reverse lever than on the throttle. 

In many churches the mass was discontinued or 
turned into the simple communion of the Lord's Sup- 
per. Men were learning that the sacred emblems were 
only emblems, and not realities. In some churches 
the cup was given to the laity. The doctrine of transub- 
stantiation (a doctrine so revolting in its every sug- 
gestion as to cause one to wonder why any one had 
ever believed it, and wonder more why men still endure 
it) was giving place to a more reasonable and scriptur- 
al conception of this sacrament. Luther himself was 
handicapped to some extent by the old superstition 
with reference to this ordinance through his whole life. 
His doctrine of consubstantiation was a sort of com- 
promise between his common sense and his lifelong dis- 
position, sometimes leading him to extremes, to take 
the Bible literally. 

But all these changes did not take place during Lu- 
ther's detention in the Wartburg. The full current 
was sweeping his followers onward when at last it was 
considered safe for him to return to his old place. He 
visited Wittenberg in disguise in December, but found 
that it would not be prudent to reveal his identity. 
What was passing here and elsewhere made him chafe 
13 



194 ^ -^^7^ of Martin Luther, 

under his confinement. His old colleague, Karlstadt, 
and the Augustine monk, Zwilling, were true to the 
spirit of the Reformation, but they were too fanatical 
to be safe leaders. Melanchthon was too conserv- 
ative to consent to their contentions, but not quite 
strong enough to withstand them. Wittenberg was the 
seething center of the great ferment that was going on. 
Some violence had been shown in the breaking up of 
the monasteries there. Of course Luther did not ap- 
prove this. He never sanctioned any sort of violence in 
defense of the gospel and the Church. Karlstadt insist- 
ed that it was not only the privilege of the clergy to mar- 
ry, but it was their imperative duty to do so. The laity 
were not only entitled to receive the communion in both 
kinds, but it was a sin not to give it to them thus. The 
Saviour administered the sacrament to only twelve; 
only twelve should be served with it at one time. These 
and other notions were among the doctrines held forth 
by these zealous adherents of the Lutheran movement. 
About some of these teachings Luther held very de- 
cided convictions; about some of them he was not as 
yet so clear in his faith. With all his apparent pre- 
cipitancy, he was never a rash man. He usually 
reached his conclusions after full investigation. He 
was not given to hasty deductions from half truths. 
The great truths of the Reformation did not come to 
him like flashlights in midnight darkness, but dawned 
upon him as the day comes. 

Matters grew more serious at Wittenberg. Karl- 
stadt and his associates were making trouble. The 
spirit of fanaticism was abroad. It is always in evi- 



Luther at the Wartbiirg, and After. 195 

dence in times of political and religious excitement. 
About Christmas time three men from Zwickau, the 
headquarters of Thomas Miinzer (whom we shall meet 
again in this history), came to the city. These indi- 
viduals claimed personal inspiration. They had a 
later message from the Lord than that given through 
the apostles. They also claimed the power to work 
miracles, though history does not credit them with 
any special healings or cures of the sick. Of course 
some were deceived. The passing of the old faith, 
in the case of many, made them ready for anything 
that was new. The pendulum of credulity finds an easy 
swing from superstition to fanaticism. All these 
things disturbed Luther because he felt that they were 
making the work of the Reformation fruitless, or, 
worse still, turning the wheat into tares. He deter- 
mined at all hazards to return to Wittenberg. The 
elector protested, but Luther persisted. He told his 
good friend through Spalatin that he would assume 
all the responsibility for going himself. He told Fred- 
erick, too, that his faith was in God and exhorted that 
prince to rely upon the same protection. 

He left the Wartburg on the first of March, 1522. 
He traveled incognito, of course, and in disguise. 
But at one o\ the inns where he stopped to spend a 
night the landlord recognized him,, but did not make 
him known except in a confidential way to a few in- 
dividuals. Among these were two Swiss students en 
route to Wittenberg. One of these was a young man 
named Kessler. Luther fascinated these youths with 
his easy manners and gracious v^ays. Kessler thus de- 



196 A Life of Martin Luther, 

scribes him,: *'When I saw Martin, in 1522, he was 
somewhat stout but upright, bending backward rather 
than stooping, with a face upturned to heaven. His 
deep, dark eyes, . . . twinkled and sparkled like 
stars, so that one could hardly look steadily at them.'' 
It will be remembered that all of Luther's portraits 
give him this position, with his head thrown back. 

Luther made his journey to Wittenberg in safety, 
reaching there after several days' travel. His friends 
greeted him with the warmest affection. All who real- 
ly loved the cause for which he had stood so coura- 
geously realized that whatever might be the personal 
risk to himself involved in a residence at Wittenberg, 
his coming was critically opportune. In this connec- 
tion it may be stated once for all that while the ecclesi- 
astical and civil bans were over him for many years, 
he was never molested. His history was a paradox. 
A political and spiritual outlaw, he yet went on with 
his work for the State and the Church. Moody at 
times, as was only natural, considering the fact that 
for a good part of his life he never knew what abso- 
lute personal safety meant, he never became the un- 
fortunate victim of chronic bitterness and cynicism. 
The spirit of the man through all these trying years 
was a marvelous triumph of strong will, strong faith, 
and the grace of God. 

Luther took quick and vigorous hold of the situation 
at Wittenberg. Now the moderation of the man began 
to manifest itself. He warned his people against the 
lack of charity which caused contentions about indiffer- 
ent things. He was tender toward the weak, whose 



Luther at the Warthurg, and After. 197 

faith yet needed the support of much that was in the 
old order of things. It seemed that he would almost 
restore the full forms and ceremonials so familiar to 
the people in the days of Rome's undisputed sway. He 
himself went back to his home in the monastery, and 
took up much of his old life there. He even put on his 
monk's garb once more. This he wore until it was 
worn out, and then put on a suit made from a piece of 
cloth given him by the elector. He soon disposed of 
the prophets from Zwickau, counteracted the influence 
of Karlstadt and his associates, and brought peace and 
order out of strife and confusion. 

And he was a busy man. He threw himself into his 
work with all the tremendous energy of his now ma- 
tured manhood. All this time, and for years after- 
ward, he had no thought or purpose of forming a new 
ecclesiastical organization. He sought to reform and 
not to recast existing institutions. The dominant 
force in his own life was the Bible, and he believed 
that the dominant force in the Reformation should be 
the Bible. With this read and understood and preached 
and accepted, all would come right. Without this, 
nothing could be made right. 



CHAPTER' XV. 
Luther and the Peasants' War. 

LuTHER^s activities were manifold. He resumed his 
lectures at the university. He appeared in his same 
old pulpit the next Sunday after he returned from the 
Wartburg. For the whole of the following week he 
preached every day, earnestly warning the people 
against intolerance. "You can talk well enough," he 
said; "but cannot a donkey sing his little lesson? I 
see no signs of charity in you." And he preached at 
other places. At Zwickau, the home of the prophets, 
he preached from the balcony of the town hall to 
twenty-five thousand people. Everywhere the people 
heard him gladly. At Weimar, at Erfurt, and at other 
places he proclaimed the newly found gospel. His in- 
fluence was constantly spreading. Condemned by 
Church and State, he yet went forth a spiritual con- 
queror, pulling down the strongholds of sin with the 
Word of God. 

To Hartmuth von Kronberg, a son-in-law of Von 
Sickingen, he wrote an open letter, in which he made 
known to the nobleman and through him to all Ger- 
many the fact that he was again at Wittenberg, though 
he admitted that he did not know how long he would 
stay there. In this letter he spoke in detail of his ex- 
perience at Worms, and condemned the way in which 
the diet had refused to allow the Bible to have any 
weight with it in dealing with him. It was a sin of the 

(198) 



Luther and the Peasants' War. 199 

German nation, since the heads of the nation had done 
it. 

The great work of this year, however, as we have 
already seen, was the publication of the German New 
Testament. September 21, 1522 is remembered as the 
day on which this epoch-making book made its ap- 
pearance. By December a new edition was called for. 
The people read it with devout and devouring inter- 
est. Cochlseus, the Romish theologian, declared that 
the Lutheran followers were more diligent in the 
study of the German New Testament than the priests 
were in the study of the Latin Vulgate. Women and 
shoemakers and people of all classes, he said, read it 
so much that they were ready to argue not only with 
Catholic laymen but even with priests. The author- 
ities took notice of the book, and ordered it confis- 
cated. Of course it was not safe to allow a publica- 
tion so dangerous to Romanism to have free and unre- 
stricted circulation. Catholic scholars criticised the 
translation, but years afterward, when a rival transla- 
tion was published by authority of the Romish hier- 
archy, it was largely a transcript of the Lutheran trans- 
lation. 

The printing press was one of the chief means of the 
Protestant propaganda. Luther used it diligently and 
effectively. His pen, if not made, according to Freder- 
ick's dream, from a quill plucked from a Bohemian 
goose a hundred years old, was nevertheless prolific and 
perennial. It was quickly sharpened when there was 
any need for more defense of the principles for which 
he contended or attacks upon the errors of Romanism. 



200 A Life of Martin Luther. 

But his writing was not limited to these fields. He was 
quick to see the spiritual needs of the people. "I was 
born for my dear Germans," he said, "and will never 
cease to work for them." 

About this time he published a really notable work 
on the relations between Church and State, or, more 
correctly speaking, on the duties of Christians in their 
relations to the civil power. This work set forth funda- 
mentally the principles universally recognized by Prot- 
estants to-day. And what is even more remarkable, 
the logic of its positions would even then have separated 
Church and State. The errors and ills of Romanism 
and of Protestantism in many lands and centuries have 
been due in no small measure to the effort to unify civil 
and ecclesiastical power. The Church has but con- 
fessed its own weakness when it has sought to lay 
hands upon the strong arm of the State. More, it 
shows an unholy ambition, utterly foreign to the spirit 
of Jesus Christ, who said : "My kingdom is not of this 
world." There were errors enough in the Church dur- 
ing the fourth century, and it did not need the assist- 
ance of Constantine, whom Romish writers have in- 
vested with more greatness and sanctity than he ever 
possessed. Of course separation of Church and State 
could not come in Luther's day. Such a change would 
have been too radical. It probably did not enter his 
own mind as a possibility. His mission was to sow the 
seed and do what reaping he could of the slowly matur- 
ing harvest. The fuller, richer harvest would come in 
the after ages. But the constant marvel is that he had 
discovered so many seeds of vital truth, and that he 



Luther and the Peasants' War. 201 

had the courage to sow them, likewise the wisdom and 
the faith. 

His opponents found him a ready controversialist. 
He was ready at any time to take up the gage of battle. 
Much of his controversial writings at this time were 
pertinent to the issues involved, but need not receive 
specific mention here. Two of his controversies, how- 
ever, are of historic interest. One of these was with 
Henry VIH., of England. That royal polygamist, 
whose uxorial proclivities had not as yet run counter to 
his Romish principles, ventured into the field of con- 
troversy against Luther. His attack was more kingly 
in name than in quality. Luther's answer was sharp- 
edged. He in effect charges Henry with merely 
begging the question. To bring forward the decretals 
of popes and the dogmas of councils as final on any 
question was assuming the very question at issue. It 
yet remained for Henry to disprove the old proverb: 
"All kings are fools." 

The Catholics complained that a serious mistake had 
been made at the Diet of Worms in the failure to have 
some Catholic divine there who could cope with Lu- 
ther in argument. Evidently the little Wittenberg doc- 
tor was too much for those who had entered the lists 
against him. It was essential that every capable de- 
fender of the faith should take up the battle against 
Luther. Erasmus, always wary, a believer in the new- 
ly discovered learning, but not a believer in the new 
evangelism, at least to the extent of committing him- 
self unreservedly to it, was urged to take up matters 
with Luther. Kings urged him to do so. Erasmus 



202 A Life of Martin Luther. 

was too shrewd to take up the main contention with 
Luther, so he attacked him on the less vital and more 
academic question of the freedom of the will. The 
argument of Erasmus, so far as there was any argu- 
ment, was in favor of what has been known in after 
times as Arminianism. Luther's views, as we have 
seen, were colored with Augustinianism. The con- 
troversy was characterized by the bitterness of the 
times, and led to a rupture between the two men which 
was never fully healed. In all that Luther said on this 
mooted question he was duly mindful that it involved 
divine things too deeply to be handled lightly and irrev- 
erently. He was practical in all his thoughts. He be- 
lieved in human responsibility, and believed in it so 
strongly that he did not allow any merely abstract 
question of theology to overshadow it. The one test 
of faith with him was its effect on life and conduct. 
Hence he had little time and less taste for discussing 
questions which he conceived had no direct bearing 
on these vital fruits of faith. 

The work of the Reformation went forward with 
gathering strength. In 1523 Prussia broke finally with 
the pope, and thus became the first Protestant State. 
Denmark followed a little later, and in the course of a 
few years Sweden and Norway followed. A light more 
brilliant and enduring than the aurora borealis was 
breaking over these northern lands. In the Low Coun- 
tries, where Charles had hereditary possessions, the 
gospel was preached and believed, and here the first 
martyr's blood of the Christian era was shed. The 
great movement must needs have its baptism of fire 



Luther and the Peasants* War. 203 

and blood. The names of the proto-martyrs of the 
great Reformation were Henry Voes and John Esch. 
These young Augustine monks had gone into Holland 
to preach the gospel as Luther and his followers under- 
stood it. They were apprehended by the authorities 
and publicly burned at the stake. Luther was deeply 
stirred by the fate of these faithful witnesses to the 
truth. He wondered why the Master had not put the 
honor of martyrdom upon himself, and not upon these 
young men. Under the solemn yet joyous inspiration 
of this blood christening of the movement for which 
he was himself ready at any time to lay down his life, 
he wrote his first verses, which were an elegy to the 
memory of the young heroes of the faith, and also a 
martial call to the Church to meet courageously the bat- 
tle that was on. These historic lines begin : 

A new song will we raise to him 

Who ruleth, God our Lord ; 
And we will sing what God hath done 

In honor of his word. 

And then, after referring to the fate of the martyrs, he 
concludes with this trumpet blast : 

So let us thank our God to see 

His Word returned at last. 
The summer now is at the door, 

The winter is fore-past. 
The tender flowerlets bloom anew. 

And he who hath begun 
Will give his work a happy end. 

It was about this time that Luther turned his atten- 
tion to providing hymns for the people. The early 



204 ^ ^^7^ of Martin Luther. 

Christians sang, as we know from the testimony of the 
apostles themselves and from the report made to the 
Roman emperor by Pliny the Younger. But through the 
Middle Ages Rome had discouraged congregational 
singing. She relegated this important part of public 
worship to choir boys and others specially designated 
for the purpose, and the singing was done in Latin, a 
language utterly foreign to the common people. For a 
thousand years the voice of song had been silent in the 
Church, with only an occasional outburst of sacred 
melody. It is not surprising that spiritual life reached 
its slowest pulse. When the Church's praying is done 
by priests and preachers, and its singing is done by 
choirs, however grand the chant or anthem, spirituality 
wanes to its death. 

Now and then through these silent centuries (for 
God hath never left himself without witnesses) some 
prophet-poet would burst away from the superstitious 
songs to Mary and the saints and sing a song of faith 
and devotion to Jesus himself, or give voice to some 
other devout Christian sentiment. In the twelfth cen- 
tury Bernard of Clairvaux burst forth with that faith 
song of the Church, 

Of him who did salvation bring, 

I could forever think and sing, .^ 

and a little later Bernard of Cluny sang of "J^^^^alem 
the Golden." The Franciscan monk, Thomas of Ce- 
lano, sang of the terrors of the last day in verses which 
have been rendered into English by Sir Walter Scott, 



Luther and the Peasants' War. 205 

John Newton, and Dean Stanley, the first of these ver- 
sions beginning. 

The day of wrath, that dreadful day, 
When heaven and earth shall pass away. 
What power shall be the sinner's stay? 
How shall he meet that dreadful day? 

These and a few others are like pearls gathered from 
the rubbish of the Middle Ages. The Lutheran age 
gave many more hymns to the Church than a thousand 
years of Romanism had given, and the age of Watts 
and Wesley a hundredfold more. 

Martin Luther was a spiritual seer. He saw the 
need of the Church for sacred song. He was not a 
poet himself, although under the inspiration of the 
mighty impulse that was stirring his own soul, as well 
as the soul of the age, he wrote some verses that will 
never die. But he soon gathered about him men who, 
like ancient David and Asaph, could praise the Lord in 
song. The German language is rich in hymnology — 
treasures gathered during the days of Luther, also 
from succeeding generations, and especially from the 
Moravians. 

Luther published his first German hymn book in 
1524. It was only a small volume, containing less than 
two dozen hymns. But others and larger ones came 
liater. Luther never wrote more than thirty or forty 
hymns, and some of them were not specially notable 
for poetic or hymnic merit. But at least two of these 
have found their way into English and other tongues, 
and one of them has never been surpassed as an ex- 



2o5 A Life of Martin Luther. 

pression of unconquerable faith in God. This is his 
famous version of the forty-sixth Psalm, and reference 
has already been made to it. This is the first verse of 
this famous epic: 

A mighty fortress is our God, 

A bulwark never failing; 
Our helper he, amid the flood 

Of mortal ills prevailing. 
For still our ancient foe 
Doth seek to work us woe ; 
His craft and power are great, 
And armed with cruel hate, 
On earth is not his equal. 

This hymn was written in 1526. Every line of it throbs 
with the heartbeats of the man who was standing for 
God and the truth. Sometimes, when tempted to be 
discouraged, he would say to Melanchthon: "Philip, 
let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm" (meaning this hymn). 
The other of the two hymns to which reference has 
been made is a Christmas carol, and is itself a transla- 
tion from the Latin. It is very tender. This is the first 
verse in English : 

To us this day a Child is given^ 
To crown us with the joy of heaven; 
Good news from heaven the angels bring, 
Glad tidings to the earth they sing. 

Luther went on with his work, but his enemies did 
not relax their efforts against him. Hadrian followed 
Leo upon the papal throne. He was too pious to be a 
popular pope in Rome, too reactionary in his policies 
to be an acceptable pope in the sixteenth century, and 



Luther and the Peasants' War. 207 

too stupid to be a good pope at any time. He broke 
out in coarse personal attacks against Luther. He 
called the reformer a drunkard and other like names. 
His German enemies said this about Luther, and of 
course the infallible holy father believed what they 
said. Luther dismissed the matter with a simple re- 
mark that Hadrian was an ass. The pope demanded 
the execution of the decree of the Diet of Worms. 
Charles, through his representative, made the same 
demand on the diet which met in Nuremburg in 1524. 
That body, anticipating by some centuries the doings 
of the "Circumlocution Office," pledged itself to carry 
out the decree in words that were simply a subterfuge. 
No German diet would even condemn Martin Luther 
again. And Charles was too busy with his wars with 
France and other pressing interests of his great do- 
minion to give heed or time to the croakings of the pa- 
pacy. He had enough war on his hands, without em- 
broiling himself with his German subjects. He was 
wise enough to see that the movement involved many 
others besides Luther. 

Luther said in a letter to a friend that as hard as his 
enemies had hit him, they had not hit him so hard as his 
own people. And he was to realize this now as never 
before. In 1524, and especially in the early part of 
1525, some of the bloodiest chapters in all human his- 
tory were written. What came to pass was only the 
natural result of the forces at work. Winter seldom 
passes into spring and summer without storms. The 
lightning flash may restore the electric equilibrium and 
purify the air, but it may likewise rend the ancient oak 



2o8 A Life of Martin Luther. 

or strike down a human being as it passes from the 
cloud to the earth. Luther was a man of peace, and 
counseled moderation and even championed the doc- 
trine of nonresistance. But the doctrines he taught and 
the truths for which he stood in the restless age in which 
he lived, could but produce social and civil convulsions. 

Men practiced all sorts of fanatical vagaries. Karl- 
stadt discarded all clerical garb, dressed like a peasant, 
called himself "Brother Andrew," and hauled manure 
barefooted. His views were what we should call so- 
cialistic. He found much authority for his contentions 
in the Old Testament. He w^ould model the State 
after the manner of the Jewish theocracy. Luther was 
asked to give his views touching this matter. He wrote 
on the subject, taking the position that God in estab- 
lishing the Jewish state meant simply to educate men, 
and not to establish a form of government after which 
all governments should be fashioned absolutely. The 
Jewish national economy was no more binding that 
the Jewish law with reference to what should and 
should not be eaten. With his characteristic clearness 
of perception he set forth the difference between the 
literal and the spiritual in law. 

But a more dangerous fanatic than Karlstadt ap- 
peared. This was Thomas Miinzer, the Anabaptist. 
Miinzer had taken his master's degree at Wittenberg, 
and had for a time been an acceptable Lutheran preach- 
er. Later he went into mysticism of the most pro- 
nounced and dangerous sort. He claimed to have di- 
rect revelations from the Lord. Believing his vagaries 
himself, no doubt, he persuaded others to accept them. 



Luther and the Peasants' War. 209 

He felt called upon and mightily moved to establish 
a "kingdom of tlie saints." This kingdom was not to 
be spiritual, but temporal. All things were to be in 
common. The enemies of the Lord (by which he meant 
all those who opposed his schemes) were to be dealt 
with as the Israelites had dealt with the Canaanites. 
Such incendiarism in the name of religion could but 
produce insurrection. This was as inevitable as is an 
explosion when fire touches powder. 

Naturally enough the poorer classes were readiest 
to accept these doctrines. It was an age of oppression. 
The old feudal system was 'tottering to its fall, but it 
was never worse in all its history than now. The peas- 
ant class were nothing better than serfs. Dignitaries of 
Church and State lived in luxury, and wrung taxes from 
the poor to support their indolence and self-indulgence. 
The exactions and oppressions grew worse as time went 
on. ]\Ien in semi-beggary, with families suffering for 
the necessities of life, groaned in spirit and longed for 
relief. It was the age when man's cruelty to man as- 
suredly made countless thousands mourn. The Church 
not only showed no sympathy ; it was as oppressive as 
the nobles, if not more so. And the reformers taught 
the people that Rome was a tyrant, exercising powers 
that God had never given to the Church. ]\Ien woke up 
to thoughts and aspirations they had never known be- 
fore. They thought of freedom, and thus thinking, 
became anarchists. The Peasants' War broke out. 

For some time before this there had been much rest- 
lessness as w^ell as numerous outbreaks. The ''League 
of the Shoe" had been formed. The disturbances had 
14 



2IO A Life of Martin Luther. 

been frequent in southern Germany. Now the agi- 
tation spread to all parts of the empire. Luther saw 
the danger, and uttered a warning against it. He had 
• spoken sharply to Karlstadt and his associates con- 
cerning the reckless way in which they had torn down 
images in the churches and inaugurated other innova- 
tions. He did not believe in images, but he did believe 
in law and order, and contended that all things should 
be done (all reforms carried out) in a lawful way. He 
sought to act as mediator. At Easter in 1525 he wrote 
what he hoped would be a conciHatory letter to the peo- 
ple. He urged the peasants, *'his brethren," to refrain 
from violence. But his words were not sufficient to al- 
lay the storm. Fire and bloodshed had already begun. 
The peasant bands carried the sword and firebrand 
wherever they went. Convents and castles were given 
to pillage and the flames. The advocates of freedom 
became a lawless mob. Miinzer himself joined the 
rioters and became their leader. Luther counseled de- 
cisive measures against these ''human devils." The 
Saxon princes, Philip of Hesse, the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, and some others united forces against the in- 
surgents. On the fifteenth of May a decisive battle 
was fought at Frankenhausen between the govern- 
ment forces and the rabble army under Miinzer. The 
peasants were completely routed and Miinzer was 
made prisoner. Later he was ingloriously beheaded, 
dying in abject cowardice. 

Engagements at other points resulted in sim- 
ilar defeats for the poor peasants. It is said that, first 
and last, 150,000 of them perished ; and after this fear- 



Luther and the Peasants War. 211 

ful sacrifice of life, leaving whole communities deso- 
lated in some cases, the condition of the peasants was 
not made better, but worse. This was a struggle for 
freedom, one of the first of the many that have come 
since then, and ought to have had a different result. 
Before the final defeat of the uprising the leaders put 
forth demands which were reasonable enough. They 
asked the right to choose their own pastors in villages, 
to be allowed access to the forests and streams for hunt- 
ing and fishing, that a portion of the tithes be applied 
to the relief of the poor, and that serfdom be abolished. 
Their demands were . not outside reasonable human 
rights, but the methods they employed to secure these 
demands were so revolutionary that they lost the sym- 
pathy of all conservative people. 

Luther has been sharply criticised in connection with 
this unfortunate outburst. He has been charged with 
responsibility for it. Unquestionably the principles of 
the great Reformation were largely effective in bringing 
about this attempted revolution. Many things that Lu- 
ther had said put specious pleas in the mouths of the 
revolutionists in defense of their course. He had not 
spared rulers in his strictures upon the times and the 
evils of the times, and he had condemned the unjust 
oppressions of the people in his own uncompromising 
way. But it is one thing to condemn unjust laws and 
unjust rulers, and quite a different thing to condemn all 
government. Paul did not approve the crimes of the 
human monster, the Emperor Nero ; and yet he wrote 
to the Romans that "the powers that be are of God." 
Luther was never a rebel against rightful authority. 



212 A Life of Martin Luther. 

He obeyed the law himself, and taught others to obey it. 
His critics say that he really began the movement, but 
that when it was under full headway he deserted it, 
and, like Pilate, sought to wash his hands of all re- 
sponsibility. But he never counseled or countenanced 
violence, even in defense of right. When he was haled 
before the Diet of Worms, if he had only spoken the 
word, many brave men would have sprung to his de- 
fense. Instead of this, he went like a sheep to the 
slaughter. When the struggle burst upon Germany, he 
could not consistently take sides with the peasants. 
Compromise was impossible, and so there was nothing 
for him but to take his stand with the authorities. 

After the struggle was over, Luther did what he 
could to secure clemency for the poor peasants. It was 
fortunate for him and them that the army that had won 
the victory was Protestant and not Romanist. Had it 
been the latter, his own fate would have been what 
Rome had long wished it to be, and his good offices 
would have availed nothing in behalf of the defeated 
rebels. 

While the Peasants' War was just beginning Freder- 
ick the Wise passed away. When he realized that his 
end was near he sent for Luther. The latter hastened 
to his bedside, but before he could reach his dying 
friend Frederick had passed away in peace. It has 
been stated already that Frederick never openly left 
the Romish Church, but when he was dying he ac- 
cepted the communion in both kinds and refused to 
receive extreme unction. It is evident from this that 
at heart he accepted the Lutheran doctrines. 



Luther and the Peasants' War. 213 

He was well called "the Wise." He was one of the 
first princes in all Europe, if not the very first, that 
stood for religious toleration. Had his attitude to- 
ward Luther been in full accord with the spirit of the 
Catholic Church the great Reformation would have 
come, but its coming would have cost immeasurably 
more bloodshed. Well may Protestants honor his mem- 
ory. All Christians may find in his life and reign a part 
of that wondrous providence that attended every stage 
of the great moral and religious forward movement of 
the Church in the sixteenth century and every step of 
the man who was commissioned of heaven to lead this 
movement. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Luther's Marriage. 

It Is pleasant to turn from the Peasants' War, with 
its record of blood and slaughter, to one of the most 
important and at the same time one of the happiest 
events in the whole life of Martin Luther. 

On June 13, 1525, Tuesday evening, he was mar- 
ried to Katharina von Bora. The German summer 
was in its fullness of beauty. The harvest time had 
not yet come, but the flowers were blooming, roses 
were in the gardens, the nightingale was singing, the 
lark was abroad by early dawn, and the stork, always 
welcome to the dwellers of the Far North, had built 
its nest on many roofs. The long June twilight must 
have given brightness even to the dull apartments of 
Martin Luther in the Augustine monastery at Witten- 
berg, where for many years he had found shelter, and 
where now he was to find a home. 

The marriage was very quiet. It was solemnized by 
Bugenhagen, the parish priest. Cranach, the artist, 
and his wife, Justus Jonas, one of the professors in the 
university, and for many years a most intimate friend 
of the reformer, and Apel, the professor of law, who 
had himself married a nun — these were the invited 
guests. Melanchthon was not in the company. Lu- 
ther knew that the last named individual would not 
approve the step that he was taking; and one wants 
only sympathetic friends present when he marries. 

(214) 



Luther's Marriage. 215 

A fortnight later a larger compan}^ gathered on in- 
vitation of Luther to celebrate the marriage in a more 
public way. Among the guests were his venerable fa- 
ther and mother. Hans Luther had always wished 
Martin to marry, and it is easy to imagine how happy 
the old man and his wife were when they saw their son 
wedded to a good, noble woman. 

Luther's bride had had a history of her own. She 
belonged to a noble German family. Like many other 
aristocratic people, however, her kindred seem to have 
had more good blood than money ; and like other fam- 
ilies similarly situated, they had sought shelter and re- 
spectability for their daughter Katharina in a nunnery. 
She was placed in one of these establishments when only 
nine years old. At sixteen she took the vows of a nun. 
She declared afterwards that she did not know the 
meaning of these vows when she assumed them. How 
could she? The Hght of the Reformation penetrated 
into many a dark corner where the light had never 
shone before, and to many this light brought a vision 
of life and liberty such as they had never seen before. 
This light entered the convent of Nimptschen, situated 
near the Saxon town of Grimma, and with its coming 
restlessness entered the hearts of the inmates. No nor- 
mal woman whose history or training has not warped 
her ideas of life would ever seek a nunnery. When 
Katharina von Bora and her companions understood 
the better way their cloisters became their prison. 
They determined to free themselves from a life which 
had no joys in it, and now, since they knew more fully 
what religion really was, did not even possess the merit 



2i6 A Life of Martin Luther. 

of duty. But whither should they go ? They appealed 
to their relatives. These refused to give them a home 
or any assistance. But they were not discouraged. 
Aided by a town official, nine of the inmates made 
their escape. It was quite natural that they should 
make their way to Wittenberg and throw themselves 
upon the generosity of Martin Luther and his friends. 
This was two years before Luther married Katharina, 
one of these escaped nuns. Luther took the fugitives 
under his protection, and solicited money to provide 
for their wants until other arrangements could be 
made for them. Katharina von Bora found a home in 
the house of the burgomaster of Wittenberg. Luther 
took a deep interest in these wards of his. Some of 
them married, and all were cared for in a way that 
saved them from want. 

Luther confessed afterwards that he did not like 
Katharina at first. He thought she was haughty. Pos- 
sibly the fact that she belonged to a family that was 
socially above his own caused him to think this. Pos- 
sibly, too, this very opinion of Katharina had some- 
thing to do with the beginnings of Luther's love for 
her. Men like to win the love of women ; and a man 
of Luther's temperament would not likely love a wom- 
an whose nature did not present something like oppo- 
sition to his wishes. That he came to love her de- 
votedly there can be no doubt. He was forty-one when 
he married her, and she was twenty-six. This differ- 
ence in age seemed only to enhance his affection for 
his Katie, as he called her. The maturity of his man- 
hood and all the loneliness and unconscious self-de- 



Luther's Marriage. 217 

nial of his years as a monastic entered into his love for 
his wife. Every great experience of hfe brings to 
men's knowledge a part of themselves of which they 
had no consciousness before, or at most only half 
consciousness; and Martin Luther, like many another 
good man, found a joy in marriage of which he never 
dreamed. No wonder that after a year with his Kath- 
arina he declared that he would rather have her and 
poverty than all the world without her. 

The picture of Katharina made by Cranach, one of 
the guests at the marriage, does not show a face of 
great beauty. Character faces are rarely beautiful, and 
hers was a character face. A brow that was not too 
prominent, large eyes, a nose that was a bit stubby, 
lips that could close firmly, a chin that v/as a little 
pointed, and a general contour of features that indi- 
cated individuality and decision- — these are the char- 
acteristics of a face that looks at you through the por- 
trait drawn by this personal friend of the family. The 
more you study the face the more impressed you are 
with it, and you would say that Katharina would im- 
prove with acquaintance. And this was no doubt so. 
It is true with most good people. She was a true, 
warm-hearted, well-proportioned German woman, well 
calculated and quite willing to make for herself and 
her husband a good home, a place and a state neither of 
them had really had since childhood. 

As already stated, the real wedding feast came two 
weeks later. Luther in inviting his friends told them 
that he wanted them to come and "ratify the marriage" 
and "pronounce the benediction." There were rings 



2i8 A Life of Martin Luther. 

and other tokens, some of which are still preserved with 
loyal reverence in various institutions. The university 
presented the bridal couple with a silver goblet on 
which were engraved the words : **The honorable Uni- 
versity of the electoral town of Wittenberg presents 
this wedding gift to Doctor Martin Luther and Kethe 
von Bora." The wedding ring bears the image of the 
Saviour and a miniature picture of the cross. 

The newly married couple, as related before, went to 
housekeeping in the old Augustine monastery. The 
monks of this particular institution had years before 
taken their departure. Some of them entered the min- 
istry, others took up secular pursuits, and Luther and 
a single companion were left as the sole occupants of 
the monastery. Luther had reported the matter to 
Frederick, and through Spalatin had turned over the 
building to the elector. The latter had donated it to 
the university, and so Luther continued to live there 
long after his companions had departed. His only com- 
panion for many months, except possibly a chance vis- 
itor, was the young man already mentioned. He 
had entered the monastic life to find peace with God, 
and now the gospel he had preached to others had 
made him more of a hermit than ever before in all 
his life. The energetic Katharina found plenty of 
work to do during the honeymoon in setting things to 
rights in this old establishment long occupied by men 
only. 

Luther's marriage created a great stir. Friends and 
foes united in criticising the step. Melanchthon, while 
admitting that marriage was a holy estate (he could 



Luther* s Marriage, 219 

hardly do otherwise, since he was himself a married 
man), thought Luther had lowered himself, and that, 
too, at a crisis in the great Reformation when he was 
needed most. And of course gossips and slanderers 
found sweet morsels in the affair. A man who had un- 
sparingly criticised and condemned unchastity in the 
priests, and who had himself up to this time escaped 
even the breath of suspicion, was the center now of 
those moral vultures who cannot even wait for the 
death and decay of their victim, but must needs use 
their filthy beaks on living beings. And even tO' this 
day Catholic priests charge Martin Luther with the se- 
duction of Katharina von Bora, the nun. They have 
been known to assert that this was, forsooth, the reason 
why Martin Luther left the Catholic Church ! If this 
had been true, and others who were guilty of the same 
sin had gone with him, the number of Protestants 
might have been larger than it was. And if the dic- 
tum of Jesus had been observed, possibly some of the 
critics of Luther would have thrown no stones. Moral 
impurity was certainly no reason for leaving the Rom- 
ish Church in the days of Martin Luther ; and unless the 
testimony of all witnesses is utterly discredited and 
discarded, there is still little reason for such a thing 
in exclusively Catholic countries. In the time of Mar- 
tin Luther the Romish Church, from the pope down, 
was shot through and through with this moral poison. 
The memory of the Borgias — the one a pope, also the 
father of a large family, the other, once a cardinal but 
released by his father the pope from his celibate vows 
and afterwards enterinsf the married state — was still 



220 A Life of Martin Luther. 

fresh in the minds of men ; for they had not been dead 
more than a quarter of a century. Concubinage was 
common, almost universal, among the priests. No 
priest could openly take a wife, but many of them 
played hide and seek with what conscience they had by 
taking mistresses. Regulations touching the concubin- 
age of the priests had been adopted in some parts of Eu- 
rope. The publication touching Albert which Luther 
had threatened to make, to which reference has already 
been made, charged this papal general agent for the 
indulgences in Germany with gross immorality. This 
unpleasant subject may be dismissed with the simple 
statement, which is borne out by reason and facts, that 
the celibate priesthood has been the curse of the Cath- 
olic Church. The Romish doctrine of marriage is in- 
consistent. If, as Catholics claim, marriage is a sacra- 
ment, why deny it to the priests ? 

No marriage in all history has been more discussed 
than Martin Luther's. Grave historians and theologians 
have discussed it. Biographers, partial and prejudiced, 
have given it careful consideration. Men have specu- 
lated about it. Various explanations have been brought 
forward to account for it. Michelet, the French histo- 
rian, advances the theory that Luther's mind had been 
weakened by his constant anxiety through so many 
years, and by the repeated shocks he had suffered, 
and that in consequence of this semidementia he 
was not responsible for the folly of marriage! This 
explanation has at least the merit of originality. It 
is about as meritorious as this same author's effort to 
account for Luther's spiritual struggles. These con- 



Luther's Marriage. 221 

flicts, he thinks, were due to the dark age in which Lu- 
ther Hved, and are unknown to people of a later genera- 
tion. 

Luther's marriage really needed no defense or ex- 
planation. In ordinary discussions the burden of proof 
is on the affirmative. In marriage, as well as in other 
vital questions, the proof must come from the negative. 
The reasons for marriage exist in human nature and 
human society. It is the privilege, if not the duty, of 
every healthy human being capable of meeting the man- 
ifold obligations of matrimony to marry. There are 
reasons why some persons should not enter this state, 
but these should be more weighty than whim or pride 
or even the unauthorized prohibition of the Church. 
Whenever the exactions of social standing or the false 
teachings of ecclesiasticism put a discount on mat- 
rimony the home, the Church, and the State suffer 
vitally. 

There was really no ethical question involved in Lu- 
ther's marriage. Of course he had taken a life-long 
pledge to celibacy and chastity. The latter pledge sim- 
ply recognized an obligation that existed without a 
pledge. The former was a part of his pledge as a 
member of the Augustine order, and later as a Catholic 
priest. If any part of these monastic and priestly vows 
was binding, every part was binding. He had made 
the most sacred promises to obey the pope. Fidelity to 
these promises would have forever barred the way to 
his becoming a reformer. If his celibate vow could 
righteously restrain him from marriage, his priestly 
vows would have bound him to lifelong loyalty to the 



222 A Life of Martin Luther. 

pope and the Catholic Church. His excommunication 
by the pope freed him from the latter ; it likewise freed 
him from the former. Luther so regarded the matter, 
and his hesitancy about marrying was not based on 
moral grounds. 

As to the expediency of Luther's marriage, there was 
room for doubt on his own part as well as on the part 
of his friends. The times were troublous. Uncertainty, 
deep and ominous, hung over his own future and that 
of the cause he had championed. He was under civil 
and ecclesiastical ban. His unfailing friend, the good 
Frederick, was no more. John, the new elector, was 
favorably disposed toward him, but he lacked the pres- 
tige and the influence of Frederick. Luther himself be- 
lieved that the end of the world was at hand. Besides, 
the step would inevitably subject him to criticism-, and 
that, too, at a time when the Protestant movement need- 
ed unity of spirit and purpose. Many of his friends 
would be offended. Luther knew all these things, but 
grew desperate at last, and declared that he would 
"marry his Katie in spite of the devil." He said he 
hoped the angels would laugh and the devil weep 
when they knew about it. 

Undoubtedly his mind underwent a complete change 
in this matter so far as his own marriage was con- 
cerned. To every suggestion that he should marry 
he had but one answer : he w^ould not do so. This was 
his repeated declaration. He believed in the marriage 
of the ministry, but he did not claim the right for 
himself. But a change came, came suddenly, and he 
married Katharina von Bora, 



Luther's Marriage. 22^ 

There are some things into which one does not care 
to inquire too closely. Some of the best and most 
sacred things in life are too subtle for analysis. It is 
not necessary that one should know the number of the 
rose's petals or the degrees covered by a rainbow or the 
distance of a star to see the beauty in star and rainbow 
and flower. Marriage is severely practical, but the 
beginnings of true matrimony are found in love; and 
who can weigh or measure love ? Luther argued with 
himself before and after his marriage, and with his 
friends as well, and gave various reasons why he 
should take the step ; but, after all, the real reason was 
that he loved Katharina von Bora. And this love for 
the woman who had sought his protection when she 
fled from the convent was as much a part of the won- 
drous providence of his divinely directed life as any 
other part of it, and it was only natural. For twenty 
years he had been an inmate of a monastery. His was 
a social nature. He loved home, he loved friends, he 
loved children, but he knew nothing of the joys of 
these natural affections except the lack of them; The 
loneliness of his life was intense; after a while it be- 
came intolerable. From a mistaken sense of duty he 
had denied to himself the domestic happiness which 
God had never refused him. He would do so no 
longer. 

Luther's domestic life was thoroughly happy. No 
better wife for him could have been found in all the 
world. Katharina was strong, cheerful, and sympa- 
thetic. The wealth of her woman's nature, hoarded up 
from her childhood, was given fully to her husband. 



224 A Life of Martin Luther, 

She had hardly known before what it was to love 
and be loved. Rosaries and crucifixes, prayers and 
fasts, cells and unbroken routine cannot satisfy the 
normal child or woman. Materialistic affection may 
be an evil, but after all, the man or woman who does 
not love the material will not love the spiritual. Kath- 
arina was not merely like a bird out of a cage; she 
was like a bird which, liberated, finds its mate, and the 
two mingle together their song of joy and love. 

The newly married couple were poor. Luther's in- 
come was scant enough. He had written books enough, 
and they had been sold in sufficiently large editions to 
have made him a rich man if he had only received a 
moderate royalty on the sales. But somehow, possibly 
because he was not worldly wise and because he was 
really writing to help others, he seems to have received 
little if anything from their sale. 

The practical Katharina must have found his do- 
mestic establishment greatly in need of attention. He 
admits that his bed went a whole year without making, 
and was mildewed for lack of attention. He says that 
he would work until exhausted at night, and then fall 
into bed and know nothing more. Katharina looked 
well to all these matters, and was a jealous guardian 
of the health and comfort of her spouse. As for Lu- 
ther, he felt a bit awkward at first. He had braved the 
displeasure of the pope and had faced the diet without 
quaking, but he was not so indifferent as to be utterly 
insensible as to what his friends said about his mar- 
riage. But he gathered courage as time went by. He 
became thoroughly domestic in his ways. He turned 



Luther's Marriage. 225 

his attention to a garden. He made a fountain. He 
had a fish pond. He turned his hand to many practical 
things. He was no longer a recluse in life or tastes. 

And a year after the marriage a baby came to glad- 
den the hearts of Luther and his Katie. The proud 
father gave it the name of his own father, and the 
child was christened John. 
15 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 

Luther's marriage did not retard the Reformation. 
At first, of course, it attracted the attention of friend 
and foe and, as has already been noted, was the occa- 
sion for the starting of some vulgar stories which, be 
it said to their shame, some of Luther's enemies are 
willing even yet to repeat as true; and yet they are, 
as they were at the beginning, the vilest slanders. 
Slander has never been a good argument in answer to 
what cannot otherwise be answered, but it has been 
resorted to many a time since the Jews used it against 
the Saviour, as well as before. As a matter of fact, 
the step that Luther had taken really advanced the 
cause so dear to his heart. He had insisted on some 
of his clerical friends' marriage, and when he took a 
wife himself he showed to all the world that he had 
the courage to be consistent. The effect of his mar- 
riage on Luther himself is observable in his work even 
yet. He was less radical and less rash. He realized 
that whatever involved his own personal safety like- 
wise involved the well-being of wife and family. With 
him, as with many another brave man, there was will- 
ingness to suffer himself, but he shrank from subject- 
ing others to suffering when those others were dearer 
to him than life itself. 

It was perhaps unfortunate, and it may be unfortu- 
nate still, that the reformers were not a unit in all that 

(226) 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 227 

they believed and taught. But such unity has never 
existed where there has been an open Bible and free- 
dom of thought. Differences of opinion soon showed 
themselves among the men who found the better way. 
The nature and purpose of the several sacraments, as 
well as their number, soon became matters of divergent 
views and warm, som€times bitter, controversy. The 
Anabaptists, who certainly received their inspiration 
and impulse from the teachings of Luther, rejected the 
baptism of infants. The question of the real presence 
in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper early in the 
great movement took on the proportions of a vital is- 
sue. This was inevitable. The Romish Church has 
always taken the words of Jesus, "This is my body, 
. . . this is my blood," in bald literalness. This in- 
terpretation carries with it the idea that Jesus meant 
to say to his disciples that they were partaking of the 
flesh and blood of the very hands that gave them the 
bread and wine. It is inconceivable that the partakers 
of the Last Supper understood the Saviour thus. The 
doctrine of the change of the bread and wine into the 
actual body and blood of Christ was one of the super- 
stitions of the Middle Ages. This superstition in the 
course of time led to the grossest idolatry. The disci- 
ples never worshiped the mere body of Jesus; but 
Rome has taught her followers to worship the bread 
and wine that are supposed to be turned into that body. 
Luther rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation. 
But it was only natural that he should fall short of a 
full comprehension of the truth. He believed and 
taught that while the elements in the Lord's Supper 



228 A Life of Martin Luther, 

were not actually changed Into the body and blood of 
Christ, yet in some mysterious way the body and blood 
were present in these elements. Others of his con- 
temporaries held a different view. 

The Reformation began in Switzerland about the 
same time it did in Saxony. Its leader was the brave 
but unfortunate Zwingli. Zwingli was less than a year 
younger than Luther. Like Luther, he became a priest. 
Scholarly, devout, and courageous, he rose to promi- 
nence in the Church. Zurich is historic by reason of 
his work and residence there. He studied Greek, made 
a copy of the New Testament in that language with 
his own hand, and even memorized the entire contents 
so as to be able to repeat any part of it at any time. 
Of course this made him a reformer. Rome sought 
to bribe him into silence by the offer of promotion. 
This he refused. He insisted that the Bible should be 
taught without any human additions. Some of the 
Swiss cantons adopted his doctrines. Others adhered 
to the Catholic Church. Civil war broke out. On the 
nth of October, 1531, a battle was fought between the 
Zurich forces and those of the Catholic cantons. 
Zwingli, at the command of the council of Zurich, led 
the Protestant army. The latter were largely out- 
numbered and were defeated, Zwingli himself being 
slain. 

Zwingli taught a thoroughly anti-Romish view of 
the sacrament. He held that when Jesus said, 'This 
is my body," he meant to say "This represents my 
body." Many of the followers of Luther accepted this 
statement. It was practically the contention of Karl- 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 229 

stadt, and friction came as a result of the discussion. 
An effort was made to reach a satisfactory solution of 
the question, but nothing tangible or permanent came 
of a conference that was held with a view to reaching 
an agreement. It was a time of intense convictions, 
intense faith, and unhappily a time of intense preju- 
dices. Zeal such as that which burned in the hearts 
of the reformers has not always been holy fire. Zeal 
needs nothing so much as discretion, and yet nothing 
is oftener lacking when men become thoroughly aroused 
on vital questions. 

The Reformation had now gained a wide support 
throughout Germany. The Landgrave, Philip of Hesse, 
followed by the Duke of Brunswick, the authorities of 
the city of Magdeburg, and other places united with 
the Elector of Saxony in a sort of alliance for mutual 
protection in the new evangelical doctrines. A similar 
alliance had been formed by the Catholic States of 
Germany. From this time forth Luther's energies 
were given, not as heretofore to opposing the errors of 
Romanism, but to correcting the effects of these long- 
standing errors. He had shown himself a master in 
the overturning of abuses ; he was now to show himself 
a master in the reconstruction of institutions. An un- 
skilled workman can tear down a building ; only an ex- 
perienced builder can take the materials and build them 
into a new house. Luther now showed the qualities of 
an ecclesiastical statesman. His work from this time 
forth was less scenic, but it was none the less useful. 

Things were in confusion. The people were igno- 
rant, and many of them, dissolute. Luther knew very 



230 A Life of Martin Luther. 

well that there was a material difference between per- 
suading men to give up Romanism and persuading 
them to become Christians. Whatever he may have 
thought as to civil and religious liberty, he was too 
wise to advocate the absolute separation of Church and 
St^te at this time. He believed that it was the duty of 
the civil authorities to look after the spiritual needs of 
the people. He urged the Elector John to take up the 
matter. He inaugurated a simple order of service in 
the Church at Wittenberg. In this the German lan- 
guage was used. This ultimately became the uniform 
order throughout Protestant Germany. He suggested, 
and insisted upon the suggestion being carried out, 
that a general visitation be made by competent men 
throughout the Churches, and that these visiting com- 
missioners be authorized to correct as far as possible 
all existing abuses. Some time elapsed before these 
suggestions were fully carried out. The results of this 
official investigation quite justified Luther's judgment. 
At one place the preacher was a sort of fortune teller. 
At another the pastor was unable to repeat the Lord's 
Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. Drunkenness and 
dissolute living were common among the clergy. This 
was the spiritual legacy left to the Protestants by the 
Romish hierarchy. Luther exerted his influence in 
behalf of schools and popular education. Unquestion- 
ably the fact that the German people are the most gen- 
erally educated people in all the world is due to the in- 
fluence of the Lutheran movement. 

Except the German Bible itself, the richest gift of 
Martin Luther to his beloved Germans was his cate- 



Lilt her Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 231 

chism. This was so simple, and at the same time so 
comprehensive, that for generations it has been placed 
in the hands of the young, and has for more than three 
hundred years kept the heart of Germany true to the 
principles of the Reformation and the Bible. This 
catechism (there were really two of them — a larger 
and a smaller one) has been placed in the hands of the 
children of successive generations in the common 
schools, and familiarity vv^ith it has been required of 
every boy and girl who has been confirmed as a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran Church. It has been more potent 
in shaping the character and destiny of the German 
peoples than laws and arms and armies. The first 
edition of this catechism appeared about 1529. 

All this time Luther was happy with his Katie. He 
often wrote in a discouraged, despondent way about 
many things, but there was always a note of deep con- 
tentment in what he wrote and said about his home life. 
The year after his marriage, as already mentioned, his 
little Hans came. The next year, in December, little 
Elizabeth was added to the family circle. But there 
were trials in the home, as there are in all homes, 
though none of those which come from lack of love 
and harmony between husband and wife. Luther had 
a serious struggle with sickness. He developed a trouble 
(the gravel) at this time from which he suffered not a 
little first and last. One day in July, 1527, he was 
attacked by a sudden rush of blood to his head, and 
almost died before relief came. Indeed, he thought he 
was dying, and summoned his household about him. 
He comforted his good wife, blessed his little Hans, 



232 A Life of Martin Luther. 

who smiled back at his sick father, and pointed to some 
silver cups which had been given to him and which 
were about all his earthly possessions, and which he 
wished his Katie to have. But he rallied and was soon 
on his feet again. In his days of semi-invalidism he had 
a disagreeable, distressing return of his old spiritual 
struggles. Satan used his physical ailments to buffet 
him withal. As wise as he was, and as fully as he be- 
lieved in the power and presence of the evil one, he 
never quite learned the crafty ways and wiles of his old 
enemy. Much of his depression was of course tem- 
peramental. There are intense natures whose joys are 
ecstasies and whose aches are agonies. Luther's na- 
ture was one of this sort. Sadly enough for the re- 
former, however, there were more sorrows and trials 
in his life than joys. Luther's lot was hard, but he was 
faithful in suffering as in labor. 

In the autumn of 1527 the plague broke out in Wit- 
tenberg. As usual, its appearance created a panic. 
The university itself was removed temporarily to Jena. 
Those who could do so fled from the city. The Elector 
John urged Luther to seek safety elsewhere. He wrote 
Luther a personal letter, in which he insisted that the 
reformer's life was too important at this juncture to be 
imperiled by tarrying in Wittenberg. But Luther did 
not flee from the danger. He could not well take his 
family with him, and he would not leave them behind. 
He would not desert his people in a time like this. 
He could but die at his post, and to die thus would be 
martyrdom; and had he not faced martyrdom before? 
Death was abroad in the city; sorrow was in many 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 233 

homes, and terror everywhere. The plague entered 
his own household. A woman that was an inmate of 
his home was smitten. He was deeply anxious about 
his wife, whose condition made the danger all the more 
critical. 

But the visitation was not protracted. The pestilence 
soon subsided. The inmate of his household recovered. 
His Katie was safely delivered of the daughter that 
was christened Elizabeth. The clouds lifted from his 
home and from his city, and he went on with his work. 
The very troubles through which he had passed served 
as a wholesome corrective of some of those mental 
moods and bitter struggles which he had known. Chris- 
tians need outward troubles. By them they are often 
saved from those spiritual sorrows which are harder 
to bear. It is hard to fight unseen foes. It is not 
strange that some of the most peaceful hours that come 
to those who know the Lord come in the midst of the 
severest conflicts. 

Luther, who was always practical, turned his atten- 
tion to farming. He bought some improved seeds and 
tools, and determined to provide for emergencies and 
attain financial independence by the cultivation of the 
soil. He had never sought prominence, and was will- 
ing, as he had always been, and was even more willing 
now that he had a family, to retire to private life. His 
peasant blood and training stood him in good stead at 
this time, as it did in many other times in his life. He 
was delighted to find that he could do these common- 
place things, and that if the worst came he could take 
care of his wife and children on a farm. In the course 



234 -^ i^ife of Martin Luther. 

of time he bought a Uttle farm on which he raise4 
grain and other things and, better still, found the recre- 
ation that he really needed. The morbid life of the 
cloister dropped off in the open air of the garden and 
the field. 

But there v/ere other perils besides the plague. Rome 
had not relaxed its opposition. That he had escaped 
the stake up to this time was not due to any papal 
clemency. A new pope had come to the throne. Ha- 
drian, like the ancient king of Judah, had died without 
being desired. Another member of the Medici, though 
an illegitimate descendant of that aristocratic Italian 
family, occupied the papal chair. He took the title 
of Clement VH. As cultured as Leo, more liberal than 
Hadrian, more virtuous than most of his immediate pred- 
ecessors, well trained to the ways of the papacy as a 
member of the curia under Leo and Hadrian, it was 
thought by friends of the Church that he was peculiar- 
ly well fitted for the office of pope at this particular 
time. But never a more unfortunate pope occupied the 
reputed seat of St. Peter, and scarcely a more unwise 
one. The spirit and policies of his predecessors for 
more than a century came to their disastrous climax 
during his reign. The papacy has never been the same 
since he sat for a decade in the Vatican. As one studies 
his history one naturally thinks of the fabled dog of 
old ^sop which, growling at his own shadow in the 
stream he was crossing, dropped the piece of meat he 
was carrying. Clement loved temporal power. Break- 
ing sacred treaties, employing fictitious agencies, and 
finally resorting to arms to secure or preserve 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 235 

this, he lost forever to the papacy the northern and 
western nations of Europe. One wonders what would 
have happened had his immediate successor, Paul III., 
instead of Clement, come to the papal throne. Had 
Paul reigned a score of years sooner, some of the chap- 
ters of the great Reformation might have been written 
differently, and others might never have been written at 
all. But the folly of popes and Churches is like the 
folly of individuals ; it always brings the consequences 
of folly. Papal infallibility cannot reverse this law. 
The folly of Julius and Leo and Hadrian and Clement 
was not like dead leaves scattered by the winds of win- 
ter ; it was the tares that could produce only a harvest 
of falsehood and disaster. And such harvests must be 
gathered and garnered, whether the harvester will or 
not. 

A notable diet was held at Speyer in the summer of 
1526. Other gatherings of a royal character had 
been held in the old city by the Rhine ; for the emper- 
ors had sometimes made their homes there for a sea- 
son. But no diet ever held there was so important in 
some of its doings as the one that met there in the sum- 
mer of 1526. Ferdinand of Austria, brother to Charles 
V. and a faithful servant of the pope, had seen the 
emperor and obtained from him unequivocal instruc- 
tions as to what should be done in the matter of en- 
forcing the imperial edict against Luther, which had 
been allowed to lie dormant for some time. The 
circumstances seem.ed propitious for carrying out this 
edict. Charles had won a complete victory over Fran- 
cis, his inveterate enemy, and this unfortunate king of 



236 A Life of Martin Luther. 

France had been made his prisoner. The two had 
agreed upon a treaty that had two objects of united 
effort in view. One of these was the war against the 
infidel Turks, the other was the crushing out of the 
heretics in Germany. These enterprises assuredly com- 
mended themselves to the sympathy and interest of the 
holy father. It was the best and the last opportunity 
Clement or any of his successors ever had to wield the 
secular arm so mightily against the Reformation. 
But Clement lost the opportunity, rather threw it away, 
and it could never be regained. His folly led to a 
tragic, if not providential retribution. It led to the 
capture and pillage of Rome itself by the Protestant 
army under the banner of Charles. 

Clement grew jealous of Charles's power in Italy. 
The emperor was virtually supreme in the Italian Pe- 
ninsula. The pope was not sure that his own domin- 
ions were safe from his invasion. Clement began ne- 
gotiations with Francis. He absolved that conquered 
monarch from the conditions of the unwilling treaty 
he had made with Charles. Francis promised his sup- 
port in the war Clement proposed to make on Charles. 
Henry VIII. of England, who w^as anxious to obtain 
the papal consent to his divorce from Catharine of 
Aragon, the aunt of Charles, pledged substantial as- 
sistance. The two kings and the pope entered into a 
"holy alliance" against Charles. Open war followed. 
In the early part of 1527 the imperial army entered 
Rome. Among the conquering soldiers were many 
Protestants from Germany. They had willingly served 
under the imperial banner in the campaign against the 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 237 

pope. The old count who had spoken so encouraging- 
ly to Luther when the latter was called before the Diet 
of Worms led the German division of the conquering 
army across the Alps, and v/ould have been at its head 
when Rome was entered but for a sudden breaking 
down of his health after entering Italy. The ancient 
city, so often conquering and so often conquered, was 
given over to the pillage of the soldiers. Many treas- 
ures of art were carried away, gold and silver were ap- 
propriated unceremoniously, and the hungry, needy sol- 
diery helped themselves without stint to the good things 
in the Vatican and in the palaces of the rich. But not 
many acts of violence were committed by the troops, 
and the pope escaped with nothing more serious than 
complete discomfiture. 

Clement gladly concluded a peace with Charles, and 
was shrewd enough to snatch from defeat some of the 
fruits of victory. He gained temporal power in Italy 
but lost it elsewhere. And the shock he gave to Charles 
must have awakened strange thoughts in the mind of 
the emperor. Whatever may have been the cause, 
whether this war with the papacy or other reasons of 
a political nature, it is certain that Charles's attitude 
toward the Lutherans was more conciliatory after this 
than it had ever been before. 

Of course all this history was not written before the 
diet met at Speyer, but its initial stages had been 
reached. The original instructions from Charles were 
withheld by Ferdinand, and in the absence of the em- 
peror and free from any pressure from him, the diet 
took no action against Luther and his fellow-reformers. 



238 A Life of Martin Luther, 

In fact, some of the most influential members of the 
royal body were evangelical, and in open and avowed 
sympathy with the truths for which the movement 
came into being. Luther's books were sold publicly 
on the streets, and the sacrament in both kinds was ad- 
ministered in the churches. 

The body adjourned in August. Its final action left 
spiritual matters to be disposed of by the several States 
as each might find it expedient. This was really all 
that the Evangelicals had ever contended for. Civil 
freedom and not political force has always been the 
human reliance of Protestantism. If now and then, 
here and there, it has departed from this standard, such 
departure has come about through a failure to throw 
off utterly the Catholic doctrine of union between 
Church and State. 

The outcome of this diet at Speyer was the first vic- 
tory of Protestantism in its battle for freedom of con- 
science. The shackles thus broken could never be re- 
placed upon its hands and feet again. 

Left thus to give his attention to shaping and giving 
proper direction to the new- movement and bringing 
into proper action the dynamic forces which it had set 
free, Luther went on with his real work as the re- 
former. What has been stated already may be re- 
peated with emphasis: He had no thought or inten- 
tion of founding a new Church at the beginning. 
Whatever intention or effort he may have put forth 
afterwards, particularly at this stage of his history, 
grew out of the very emergencies that had arisen. It 
was not enough to tear down the old sheep fold, which 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 239 

was unsafe for the flock. A new fold must be built. 
Out of his effort, but with no intention of perpetuat- 
ing his name by it, gradually took form the Lutheran 
Church of Germany and of many other nations. 

But the establishment of the Lutheran Church did 
not come at this time. Many a day of persecution and 
struggle passed before this was accomplished. The 
great oak that lives for centuries gathers strength from 
the winds that beat upon its boughs. The very sta- 
bility of the Church has come to it from its persecutions. 
Its enemies have often been its best friends. 

The days of controversy were not yet over, nor the 
days of danger. The pope and the emperor were a 
constant menace, and so were the Catholic German 
States. Ever and anon there were ominous thunder 
mutterings from Madrid and from Rome. But a com- 
mon danger did not unite the reformers. Zwingli and 
Luther contended sharply about the question of the real 
presence. The difference between them was more 
metaphysical than material. Luther believed that it 
was not the physical but the spiritual body of Jesus 
that was present in the elements of the Lord's Supper, 
and virtually that only believers were benefited by this 
presence, and that, too, in only a spiritual way. Zwing- 
li contended that the bread and wine were only em- 
blems of the body and blood, and that the partaking of 
them was simply a means of grace to the believer, and 
not necessarily more beneficial than other means of 
grace. Since these reformers were practically agreed 
as to the benefits and beneficiaries of this ordinance, 
one is tempted to wonder why they contended so hotly 



240 A Life of Martin Luther. 

as to the modus operandi of the sacrament. But each 
of these honest men saw a vital question involved in 
the controversy, and really more than one vital ques- 
tion. But they did not always see each other's sin- 
cerity. Luther thought Zwingli was a fanatic, and 
ZwingH had a similar opinion of Luther. 

As we shall see later, this controversy came to a 
focus in a personal meeting and discussion between 
Luther and Zwingli. But the issue was never really 
settled, and remains a matter of difference between 
two of the great branches of the Reformed Church 
until this very day. 

Luther had other controversies. He wrote a sec- 
ond letter to Duke George, much more conciliatory 
than his previous communications to that nobleman, 
and one of similar purport to Herry VIII., of England. 
The answers that he received to these olive branch ef- 
forts were coarse and vindictive. Luther answered 
Henry in a manly way. If he was a sinner, as Henry 
charged, he was such only in the sight of God. As to 
virtue, the king was not worthy to unloose his shoes. 
He was a fool for trusting men, even kings, too readily. 
His controversy with George was cut short by a com- 
mand from the Elector John. 

As decided as Luther was, and as ready to enter into 
controversy, in which he never minced words, he had 
no intolerant spirit of persecution. Very severe meas- 
ures of repression were taken against the Anabaptists 
by the authorities, some of them being put to death. 
Luther disapproved and condemned all this. He in- 
sisted that a man should be allowed to think as he 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 241 

chose, that faith was essentially free. In this matter 
Luther was not only in advance of his age generally; 
he was in advance of his contemporary reformers. He 
knew the heart of a hunted, persecuted man, and he 
was too true to the lessons of his own experience to 
persecute others. He was equally decided in his views 
as to the taking up of arms in defense of the gospel. 
A meeting of the diet w^as held at Speyer in the spring 
of 1529. At this meeting the body went as far as it 
could in reversing the tolerant action of three years 
before. It was evident that the Catholic States of 
Germany were acting in concert, and that a tacit, if not 
a specific, agreement had been reached by them to co- 
operate with each other and with the emperor in crush- 
ing out the Reformation. The minority members of 
the body, headed by the impetuous Philip, Landgrave 
of Hesse, entered a protest against the action taken 
by the majority. This protest gave name to the fol- 
lowers of Luther and other reformers, and through 
the centuries since then they have been known as Prot- 
estants. 

The protesting princes now entered into a league for 
mutual protection, and were ready to take up arms in 
defense of the principles they regarded as essential to 
the true faith. It was now that Luther spoke his con- 
victions as to going to war for the protection of the 
gospel and its followers. He insisted that Christians 
should have more faith in God. He reminded his 
friends that Jesus said that "they that take the sword 
should perish with the sword." And he brought for- 
ward the same views that he had advanced some years 
16 



242 A Life of Martin Luther. 

before this as to the relations between the individual 
citizen and the State in the matter of faith. The faith 
of the citizen was not subject to the dictation of the 
State, but in case the State undertook to enforce belief 
upon its citizens or subjects the latter were not justified 
by Scripture in resisting force with force. The author- 
ity of Charles, he contended, was supreme in Germany, 
and while the emperor could be deposed by a unanimous 
vote of the diet, his authority could not be set aside 
by any particular State or combination of States as 
long as he was emperor. 

In this connection another fact illustrating Luther's 
patriotism should be mentioned. The aggressions of 
the Turks in Southeastern and Central Europe were a 
real menace to Western civilization and to the life of the 
nations that were at least nominally Christians. Wher- 
ever these conquering semisavages from Asia had 
carried the conquering crescent, the extirpation of 
Christianity had followed, at least to the extent that 
fire and sword could accomplish this dire result. The 
Turks had overrun Hungary, and about this time laid 
siege to Vienna. The popes had repeatedly sounded 
the note of alarm throughout Western Europe, and 
had asked and received money for the purpose of re- 
sisting these invaders. Unfortunately, however, it was 
known that money raised for this object had been ap- 
plied to other and less commendable enterprises, and 
naturally many had grown indififerent by reason of this 
repeated cry of w^olf. Luther made a strong and pa- 
triotic appeal to his fellow-countrymen to aid in car- 
rying forward this war of defense. He said that it was 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 243 

not another crusade, but a fight for the very existence 
of the Church. 

The action of the diet in the spring of 1529 has al- 
ready been noted. In view of this action and the fact 
that Charles and the pope were once more on friendly 
terms, together with the expected coming of Charles 
to Germany the next year to attend the next meeting 
of the diet in person, it was very desirable that the re- 
formers of every shade of opinion should be brought 
into harmonious cooperation. It was especially the 
wish of the friends of the movement that the Swiss 
Evangelicals and those of Germany should be brought 
together. Besides the moral effect such a union would 
have, there were supposed political reasons why this 
harmony was important. The Swiss have been great 
soldiers. For many centuries they have been the mil- 
itary free lances of Europe. Kings and popes have 
been glad to have them as their special and trusted 
bodyguard. With a large Swiss contingent rallying 
round the Protestant cause, Charles would be more 
willing to deal in a conciliatory way with the reformers. 
The line of separation between the Protestants of Zu- 
rich and of Wittenberg was the difference between the 
two factions as to the Lord's Supper. To the mind of 
the layman this division seemed so insignificant as to 
have little weight against the larger benefits of Protest- 
ant union at this time of common danger. Philip, who 
was now the recognized leader among the Protestant 
princes, determined if possible to bring about a meet- 
ing between Luther and Zwingli and a reconciliation 
between them, 



244 ^ -^^/^ ^f Mci^ii^ Luther. 

He succeeded in bringing the warring theologians 
face to face. Luther was reluctant about entering into 
the arrangement, but Zwingli was more than willing. 
It is said that he slipped away from Zurich at night so 
as to avoid detention by the authorities, who were un- 
willing for him to go. Perhaps Luther regarded the 
enterprise as useless; perhaps Zwingli expected more 
from the conference than was possible. The time and 
place of meeting were well chosen. It was the early au- 
tumn, a season when men are best prepared, it seems, 
for calm deliberation. The place was the beautifully 
situated town of Marburg, on the River Lahn. The 
theologians were entertained in the old castle by Philip. 
This venerable building stands on a hill overlook- 
ing a lovely valley, with the river flowing at its foot, 
wooded hills not far away, and mountains in the dis- 
tance. The hall where the contestants met had been the 
gathering place for knights in other days, and Philip 
himself acted as chairman. The fare was sumptuous, 
and everything inside and outside the old castle was 
calculated to inspire peace and good fellowship. 

Luther was accompanied and assisted in the debate 
by Melanchthon, as well as one or two others, while 
Zwingli had as his fellow-disputant the learned 
^colampadius. The debates lasted parts of two or 
three days. The debaters gathered round a table. 
On this Luther had written with a piece of chalk on 
the velvet cover: ''Hoc mevim corpus est." These 
words of the Saviour were his sole argument and re- 
liance throughout the discussion. He refused to lis- 
ten to anything that lessened the literal meaning of 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 245 

these words of the Saviour. Zwingli's argument 
ranged abound the words of the Saviour in the sixth 
chapter of John: "The flesh profiteth nothing." The 
discussion was sharp, but the spirit of the contestants 
was in the main brotherly and courteous. Luther was 
dogmatic; Zwingli was argumentative. The former 
was choleric and excitable; the latter was cooler and 
more judicious. Luther was not convinced, and 
Zwingli was not willing to yield one jot or tittle. The 
discussion was about to terminate in a fruitless and ut- 
terly disappointing way. It might have continued long- 
er, but the dread "sweating sickness," one of the worst 
of the plagues of the Middle Ages, resulting, like the 
rest, from the ignorance and unsanitary conditions of 
those dark days, had broken out in the town. It was 
a terror from which kings and nobles fled in dismay, 
for it often invaded palaces and castles, and its rav- 
ages were more fearful than the cholera or the yellow 
fever. Philip would not consent that the conference 
should prove absolutely abortive. He urged the con- 
tending parties to leave unsettled the question about 
which they differed and seek for a basis of agreement. 
When men argue, they usually get farther apart ; when 
they reason, they generally get closer together. In the 
one case differences are magnified ; in the other points 
of agreement are sought out and brought forward. 
Much feeling was manifested in the last stage of the 
debate. These good m(en were at last coming to a 
better understanding of each other and of the spirit 
of true brotherhood. Zwingli burst into tears. Lu- 
ther was moved. All parties shook hands. "We will 



246 A Life of Martin Luther, 

meet in the spirit of charity," said Luther. "After a 
while we shall be brethren." 

It was agreed that a statement should be drawn up 
setting forth the points on which the two factions were 
united. All parties looked to Luther to prepare this 
paper. He retired to his closet, and we cannot doubt 
but that he gave earnest prayer as well as earnest 
thought to the matter in hand. He hardly hoped to 
prepare a paper that all would agree to. His success, 
however, surpassed his hopes. He presented after 
some time a series of fifteen articles which contained 
the essentials of Protestantism. These related to the 
fundamental doctrines of the divine unity and trinity, 
the incarnation and the sufferings of Christ, his death 
and resurrection, and besides these, stated clearly the 
doctrine of justification by faith alone and the work of 
the Holy Spirit. The statement condemned the mass 
and announced the real presence in the Lord's Sup- 
per, but left the question as to the nature of his pres- 
ence without distinct statement — in other words, 
whether this presence was bodily or spiritual. 

All parties signed this agreement, and the result of 
this historic conference at Marburg was one of the 
first evidences sent forth to the world of the substan- 
tial unity among Protestants. It is the only unity 
that is possible between Christians — a unity in es- 
sentials, and freedom in nonessentials. 

This Marburg gathering did not stay fully the con- 
troversy touching the issues involved in the discussion, 
but the tone of the discussion ever afterwards was 
more conservative and conciliatory. The leaders of 



Luther Up to the Diet of Augsburg. 247 

the Reformation Had come to know each other better, 
and this was no small gain to them and to the move- 
ment that was working a world-wide revolution. 

This conference was held on the last of September 
and the first days of October, 1529, and the agree- 
ment is known in history as the "Marburg Articles." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Luther at Coburg, the Diet of Augsburg, and 

Other Events in His History. 

The year 1530 was memorable in the history of the 
great Reformation. One of the events of this year 
marked an epoch in the great movement. This was 
the formulation of the Augsburg Confession of Faith, 
which, together with the articles agreed upon by Lu- 
ther and Zwingli, of which mention was made in the 
last chapter, constituted the basis of most of the sub- 
sequent creeds of Protestantism. 

Up to this time the Protestants had confined them- 
selves mainly to negatives and denials. These may 
suffice for a bond of union during a season of strug- 
gle against error and oppression, but a chain of ne- 
gations cannot hold men together for any great length 
of time. The tie must be strengthened by positive and 
unequivocal affirmations. 

The situation of Luther and his followers was se- 
rious, if not full of peril to themselves and their cause. 
The pope and the emperor had patched up a peace. 
There was a lull in the hostilities between Francis 
and Charles. Clement was urgent in his wishes and de- 
mands with reference to the suppression of the Luther- 
an heresy, though prudent enough to counsel mild 
measures at first. His legate, Campeggio, had in- 
structions that were bloody enough, however, had 
Charles listened to them. The diet was to meet at 

(248) 



Cohurg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events, 249 

Augsburg in April. The emperor ^'\^as scheduled to 
arrive early and preside in person. Luther's associ- 
ates were full of apprehension. Luther himself felt 
less alarm. The cause of the Reformxation could not 
now be disposed of by a few burnings and banishings. 
Princes were ready to take up arms in its behalf. Vi- 
olent measures against it would bring on civil war, 
and no king or government willingly brings on that. 
Luther reasoned thus, and the sequel showed the cor- 
rectness of his judgment. Luther of course did not 
and could not know all the facts. Charles was loyal 
to Romanism, but he believed there were abuses which 
should be corrected. He thought that the best way to 
brings this about was to summon a general council. 
This had been Luther's urgent request at the begin- 
ning. But popes are not fond of general councils. 
These bodies had not always been favorable to the 
usurpations of the popes. Clement had good reason to 
look with disfavor upon such a gathering. A general 
council might raise some embarrassing questions as 
to the right of a man born out of wedlock to be pope. 
Clement temporized. He suggested to Charles that a 
call for a general council should be made at the in- 
stance of the European monarchs in concert. Later 
he persuaded Francis to object, and used the objection 
against both Charles and the council. 

The Protestant princes were not unacquainted with 
the danger which imperiled them and the cause they 
had espoused. At one time active preparations were 
made for armed resistance in case this became neces- 
sary. Luther, however, set his face steadfastly against 



250 A Life of Martin Luther, 

all this. He did not believe in such a means of de- 
fense. He believed that Christians should stand faith- 
fully by their convictions, even to the point of martyr- 
dom. There had been no time in miany years now 
when he would not have gone to the stake rather than 
surrender his conscience. But he did not think that 
men should do wrong even in behalf of the truth ; and 
resistance to civil authority he regarded as wrong. 
It should be said to his credit that had he counseled 
forcible resistance to Rome and to Charles, Germany 
would have been the scene of battle and bloodshed 
long before it was. He had no respect for the usurpa- 
tions of the papacy, but so long as the emperor sus- 
tained and supported the authority of Rome the ques- 
tion was not what Rome claimed but what Charles 
commanded. This loyalty to duly constituted authority 
was one of the ever controlling convictions of his 
whole life. 

Either because of intimations from Charles or be- 
cause the Protestant members of the diet knew that 
the matter would reach an acute stage at the approach- 
ing session, it was generally understood that a spe- 
cific statement of the Protestant contentions should be 
brought forward at Augsburg. Of course no one was 
so well qualified to prepare this statement as Martin 
Luther. But Martin Luther was still under civil and 
ecclesiastical ban, and of course could not appear be- 
fore the emporer and the diet. It would not even 
be safe for him to appear at Augsburg. His counsel 
seemed indispensable, however, and the Elector John 
determined to have him as near the seat of the diet as 



Coburg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events, 251 

would be at all safe, so that he might be reached and 
counseled with in the emergency that all realized was 
approaching. Luther therefore accompanied the elec- 
tor as far as the little city of Coburg. This is a thrifty, 
picturesquely located town in Central Germany, stand- 
ing on the left bank of the Itz, a tributary of the River 
Regen. Some old buildings, a ducal palace, a general 
air of cleanliness and industry, and historic associa- 
tions running back many centuries give the city, which 
has even yet less than 20,000 population, an abiding 
interest to travelers. But the chief attraction to vis- 
itors about the place is the old castle, where, during the 
sitting of the diet at Augsburg, Martin Luther re- 
mained in semiconcealment. Luther called this an 
abode among the birds, and its situation warranted 
this poetic designation. 

This old castle stands on a hill five hundred feet 
above the Httle city nestling at its base. In recent 
times the old building has been used partly as a prison, 
but the room where Luther slept and the bed, also 
several apartments that he used, are showm to travelers. 

Luther came to this interesting old castle the latter 
part of April, and spent most of the remainder of the 
year here. He was not in semicaptivity, as at Wart- 
burg ten years before. His wants were well provided 
for. There was much work to be done, and while he 
chafed under the seeming necessity of staying away 
from the diet and his associates in the Reformation 
at this time of crucial importance, and was pained by 
his separation from his family, yet upon the whole he 
seems to have been unusually cheerful and hopeful. 



252 A Life of Martin Luther. 

He was in constant communication with his friends, 
and his letters give delightful glimpses of the personal 
life and tastes of this always interesting man and lead- 
er. The crows and ravens woke him every morning, 
and he wrote to his friends that these noisy early ris- 
ers were holding diets and general councils. They 
were like chattering bishops and princes and dignitaries 
of Church and State. Surely no father ever wrote a 
sweeter letter to a child than this, which Luther wrote 
to little Hans from his castle home : 

Grace and peace in Christ, my dear little son. I am pleased 
to see that thou learnest thy lessons well and prayest diligent- 
ly. Do thus, my little son, and persevere. When I come home, 
I will bring thee a fine "fairing." I know of a pretty garden 
where merry children that wear little golden coats run about, 
and gather up nice apples and pears and cherries and phuns 
under the trees, and sing and dance and ride on pretty horses 
with gold bridles and silver saddles. I asked the man of the 
place whose the garden was and whose the children were. He 
said: "These are the children who pray and learn and are 
good." Then I answered : "Dear sir, I also have a son called 
Hans Luther. May he not also come into this garden and eat 
these nice pears and apples and ride a little horse and play 
with these children ?" The man said : "If he says his prayers 
and learns and is good, he too may come into the garden ; and 
Lippus and Jost may come, and when they all come back they 
shall have pipes and drums and lutes and all sorts of stringed 
instruments, and they shall dance and shoot with little cross- 
bows." Then he showed me a smooth lawn in the garden laid 
out for dancing, where hung pipes of pure gold and drums and 
beautiful crossbows. But it was still early, and the children 
had not dined. So I could not wait for the dance, and said to 
the man : "Dear Sir, I will go straight hom.e and write all this 
to my dear little son Hans, that he may pray diligently and 
learn well and be good, and so come into this garden; but he 



Coburg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events, 253 

has an Aunt Lene whom he must bring with him." And the 
man answered : "So shall it be ; go home and write as yon 
say." Therefore, dear little son Hans, learn and pray with 
good heart, and tell Lippus and Jost to do the same, and then 
you will all come to the beautiful garden together. Al- 
mighty God guard you. Give miy love to Aunt Lene, and 
give her a kiss for me. In the year 1530. 

Your loving father, Martin Luther. 

The "Aunt Lene'' mentioned in this letter was an 
inmate of Luther's household, to whom the father as 
well as the son was much attached. Lippus was a son 
of Melanchthon, and Jost, an abbreviation of Jodocus, 
was a son of Justus Jonas. It would seem from these 
tender references to these children that the friendship 
of the fathers was being perpetuated in the sons. 

This letter was written in June, when the mind of 
Luther was deeply absorbed with the gravest questions, 
and w^hen the Reformation itself was passing through 
one O'f the greatest crises in its history. This fact 
shows how strong Luther's parental and domestic at- 
tachments were, and discloses a side of his nature that 
is always attractive. 

Luther called his castle abode ("in the empire of the 
birds," as he expressed it) his Mount Sinai. But 
he said that he would make a Mount Zion out of it and 
build three tabernacles — "one for the Psalms, one for 
the prophets, and one for the fables of ^sop." This 
was a playful reference to the work he was doing. He 
had not yet completed his translation of the Old Testa- 
ment, and he gave his strength and time with unre- 
served diligence to this great task, urged on by an abid- 
ing conviction not only of the uncertainty of his own life 



254 ^ ^^f^ of Martin Luther. 

but also as to the early end of the world. In one of his 
letters he complained that he was forced by ill health 
to take much of the summer as a holiday; but the 
work that he did shows little time spent in idleness. 
He made good progress in his translation of the proph- 
ets and, doubtless as a sort of recreation, turned some 
of ^sop's fables into simple German, with many use- 
ful proverbs as morals. He admired these fables great- 
ly, and said he wished his people to get the benefit of 
them. He was ever on the alert for opportunities to 
help his "dear Germans." He was always and in every- 
thing unselfishly patriotic. 

There were some thirty inmates in the castle, and 
these showed Luther all needed consideration. But his 
constant and cherished companions were his nephew, 
Ciriac Kaufmann, and his amanuensis, Veit Dietrich. 
The latter, who was from Nuremberg, ultimately be- 
came a most useful Protestant preacher in his native 
town. As already stated, Luther worked diligently on 
his several undertakings, kept in constant touch with 
his friends at Augsburg, wrote regularly to his Katie, 
and declared that the castle was the very place for 
study. He worked so steadily that in May he had a 
return of his old head trouble, a singing in his ears, 
and a tendency to faint. He was not sure whether all 
this was the result of his good fare at the. table of his 
hosts or the work of the devil. Dietrich thought that 
this last was the real cause, as he said Luther was un- 
usually careful in his diet. He declares that one night 
he and Luther saw a fiery apparition that looked like 



Cohurg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events, 255 

a serpent, and that afterwards Luther fainted and was 
very sick the next day, too sick to work. 

Luther had a real sorrow in the early summer. On 
May 29 his venerable father passed away. Luther 
heard of his death eight days later. The father died 
in the full assurance of faith in the gospel as preached 
by his son. When the son had read the letter that 
brought the news of his father's death, he said sor- 
rowfully to Dietrich: "And he too is gone.'' Then, 
taking his Psalter, he retired into his private apartment, 
there to be alone for a season with his sorrow and his 
God. 

In the preceding February he had learned through a 
letter from his brother that his father was seriously 
ill, and at that time wrote him a letter that breathed 
the warmest affection. "It would be a great joy to 
me," he wrote, "if only you and my mother could 
come to us here. My Kate and all pray for it with 
tears. I should hope we would do our best to make 
you comfortable." And then he assures him of his 
prayers in his behalf that the Divine Father might 
strengthen and enlighten this father whom he had 
given him on earth. He leaves the matter entirely in 
the hands of God as to whether they shall meet again 
on earth or in heaven. "For," he wrote, "we doubt 
not but that we shall shortly see each other again in 
the presence of Christ, since the departure from this 
life is a far smaller matter with God than if I were 
to come hither from you at Mansfeld or you were to 
go to Mansfeld from me at Wittenberg." Thus in his 
inmost soul Luther realized the comfort of a faith 



256 A Life of Martin Luther. 

in a future state which knew no doubts and asked no 
questions. 

In a letter to Melanchthon, written the day that the 
intelhgence of the good old man's death reached him, 
he said that all he was and all he had he owed, through 
divine grace, to his father. 

Meantime the diet was slowly gathering in Augs- 
burg. The Protestant princes were accompanied by 
preachers, and these preachers spoke unequivocally 
and unhesitatingly in behalf of the gospel. Michelet 
is much perplexed by the fact that at a time when 
Germany was threatened by the Turks under the 
brave Solyman on the one hand, and the perils of civil 
war brought on by contending religious factions on the 
other hand, these princes and theologians should 
be concerned about such matters as transubstantiation 
and free will, and ascribes it all to the "intrepid 
phlegm" of the German race. But these same Ger- 
mans were men of uncompromising conscience, and 
the matters that were up for settlement were more 
vital than this French author seems to think. They 
were much given to prayer. They rested their cause 
and their defense upon the Word of God, and their 
courageous contention for the truth ultimately brought 
freedom to themselves and to all their descendants 
who have accepted the inheritance. 

Charles was slow in coming to Germany. Reach- 
ing Innsbruck, he tarried for some time. Here Duke 
George and other Catholic zealots met him and in- 
formed him of what was going on at Augsburg. 
They were specially bitter against the Lutheran 



Cohurgj Diet of Augsbiirg, and Other Events. 257 

preachers, and insisted that Charles should command 
these pestilent fellows to cease from their preaching. 
It may be said, without adverting to the matter later, 
that when Charles reached Augsburg he yielded to 
the wishes of these counselors and compromised with 
the Protestants by forbidding the Catholic priests to 
preach anything except sermons that were neither 
Catholic nor Protestant. These emasculated sermons 
were so farcical that the people received them with 
ridicule. 

At last, on the 15th of June, two months after the 
appointed day, Charles entered Augsburg in great 
state. Protestant and Catholic princes did him honor. 
There was at least ceremonial cordiality in his wel- 
come. The first discordant note was sounded by a 
high Catholic functionary who preached the opening 
sermon of the diet. In this he denounced "the Ger- 
man heretics'' as being worse than the Turks. This 
violent outburst pleased no one except the most radi- 
cal Romanists. 

As already stated, it was the general understanding 
that a Protestant confession of faith would be pre- 
sented to the diet. In convoking the body the im- 
perial decree had announced that one of its purposes 
was to find out "how best to deal with the differences 
and divisions in the holy faith and the Christian re- 
ligion." It was declared that "every man's thoughts 
and opinions should be heard in love and charity and 
be carefully weighed, and that men should thus be 
brought in common to Christian truth and thus be 
reconciled." 
17 



258 A Life of Martin Lutlier. 

All this sounded fair enough, and the Protestants 
hoped that it might mean all that seemed to be im- 
plied. Luther, always ready to honor Charles, was 
quite disposed to accept this proclamation as an omen 
of peace and an assurance that the Protestants would 
be shown toleration. The attitude of Charles became 
altogether apparent before the diet had finished its 
work. The reconcilation spoken of simply meant that 
the Protestants should submit to Rome and the em- 
peror in the matter of faith. 

The Protestants proceeded to prepare their state- 
ment of doctrines. The year before, at the Elector 
John's request, Luther had prepared a statement based 
on the Marburg agreement, but putting more stress 
on the doctrine of the Eucharist as Luther understood 
that sacrament. These articles, some seventeen in 
number, were submitted to the Protestant princes at 
Schmalkalden, and were generally indorsed by them. 
These same articles, revised and modified, were pre- 
sented to the diet at Augsburg, and constitute the 
nucleus of all Protestant creeds from that day till this. 

The task of giving these articles their final cast 
devolved upon Melanchthon. This associate of Lu- 
ther was timid and peace-loving. He was prepared 
to make every possible concession to the Catholics. 
He sought earnestly to efifect a compromise. He went 
so far as to assure the Romanists that there were 
really very few differences between them and the 
Protestants. He sought the favor of the papal legate, 
and fawned and cringed before the dignitary. He 
seems to have had Httle hope of peace in separation 



Cohurg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events. 259 

from Rome, so he undertook the forlorn hope of bring- 
ing papists and Protestants together. Luther warned 
him of the utter impossibiHty of all this. "The pope 
will not consent, and Luther refuses." This state- 
ment for the emperor and the diet was submitted to Lu- 
ther, and approved by him. It was milder, he said, than 
he would have made it, but possibly this was better. 

When the statement was ready, Charles was unwill- 
ing for it to be published. He wished to consider it 
privately. This proposition, of course, came at the 
instance of his Catholic advisers. After the reading 
of the confession before the diet, one of the high 
dignitaries of the Church asked the redoubtable Dr. 
Eck if the Catholic doctrine could not be upheld by the 
Scripture. "No," admitted this old opponent of Lu- 
ther; "but by the Fathers." Since the Protestants 
relied on the Scriptures to prove their faith, it is easy 
to see why the Romanists were not willing that they 
should come before the diet with their statement. But 
the Protestant princes knew quite well what this pri- 
vate handling of the matter by the emperor would 
mean, and declined to have it disposed of in this sum- 
mary way. Charles, who never liked German, asked 
that the statement be read in Latin. This meant 
that only a few of the princes would have under- 
stood it, so the Protestant members of the diet in- 
sisted that it should be read in German. Charles re- 
luctantly consented to this, and a copy in Latin and 
one in German were placed in his hands. 

The Protestant statement was read to the diet on 
June 25. Bayer, the chancellor of the Elector John, 



26o A Life of Martin Luther, 

read it. Its reading occupied two hours, and those 
were historic hours in the annals of Protestantism. 
Nine years before this Martin Luther had stood alone 
before this great body of German princes and Church 
dignitaries, and had gone forth with the imperial ban 
upon him for daring to call in question the authority 
of the pope over the consciences of men. Now these 
principles for which Martin Luther had stood bravely 
and alone were espoused by some of the strongest 
men and most powerful princes in the diet ; and while 
Rome was as ready as she had ever been — possibly 
readier than before — to condemn these contentions, 
she found her power gone, and she was forced to lis- 
ten to what she would have gladly committed to the 
flames, and to show consideration to men she would 
willingly have bound to the stake. And Luther, 
though absent, shared in the joy of this memorable 
occasion. 

Charles was but little impressed by the statement. 
It is even recorded that he fell asleep during the read- 
ing. But others were impressed, and some of the 
most influential members of the body, who had not 
embraced the principles of Luther up to this time, 
afterwards became openly Protestant. The confession 
was afterwards published in all Western Europe. 
And like a blast of wind in March, it helped to fan 
into a flame the kindling flres of the Reformation 
wherever it was published. 

Weeks of anxious negotiations followed the read- 
ing of the confession. Charles instructed the Catholic 
theologians to prepare an answer to it. This, when 



Cohurg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events, 261 

it was brought in, proved to be nothing more than a 
repetition of Romish assumptions and pretensions. 
Charles sought to exercise arbitrary power in the 
case, and commanded the diet to accept as final this 
Catholic statement and defense. The fiery Prince of 
Hesse immediately withdrew from the assembly. 
Other efforts at a compromise failed, as was inevita- 
ble. As peace-loving as was Melanchthon, he would 
not concede the vital tenets of his and his associates' 
faith. A committee, of which he was a member, failed 
utterly to effect a settlement of the matters in dis- 
pute. No settlement was possible that did not involve 
a full surrender of all the Protestant contentions, and 
this, of course, was impossible. Charles found the 
Catholic princes loyal enough to Rome, but not pre- 
pared or willing to take up arms against their Prot- 
estant neighbors. The emperor therefore must recede 
entirely from his position, concede something to his 
Protestant subjects, or force them into submission by 
a war for which he was not prepared. He met the 
situation by the only course that was really open to 
him under these embarrassing circumstances. He ad- 
journed the diet and allowed the status quo to remain. 
He issued an edict giving the Protestants a year in 
which to accept the Catholic statement. In the mean- 
time he promised to use his influence to secure the 
calling of a general council to adjust all questions in 
dispute. 

This result was no surprise to Luther. True, feel- 
. ing a loyalty to Charles that was more sincere than that 
of those who simply wished to use the imperial power 



262 A Life of Martin Luther, 

to bolster the cause of Rome, he had expected better 
treatment at the hands of the emperor when Charles 
called the diet; but it was not long before he dis- 
covered that Charles was completely under the domi- 
nance of Rome. He had kept in constant touch with 
the deliberations at Augsburg, and had reenforced the 
wavering courage of Melanchthon with letters that 
breathed the spirit of devotion to the great cause. 
But he did not depend upon human means to accom- 
plish the victory of the cause and the safety of his 
friends. He had constant recourse to prayer. He 
said he would pray until he knew that his prayers 
were heard in heaven. He gave three hours a day to 
prayer, and urged his friends to do the same. Those 
who believe in the worth of prayer at all cannot doubt 
the efficacy of these mighty intercessions in behalf of 
the Reformation by this man of God. In aftertimes 
he spoke of this period in his own history and the 
history of the Reformation, and expressed a firm con- 
viction that the deliverance wrought at Augsburg was 
an answer to prayer. 

How real Luther's faith was and how intimately he 
knew God as his Father this little incident discloses. 
One day Dietrich heard him praying aloud, and this 
was a part of his prayer: "I know that thou art our 
Father and our God. . . . The danger is thine as 
well as ours ; the whole cause is thine ; we have put our 
hands to it because we were obliged to. Do thou pro- 
tect it." He wrote home to his wife : "Pray thou with 
confidence, for all is well arranged and God will protect 



Cohurg, Diet of Augsburg, and Other Events, 263 

Luther returned to Wittenberg early in October. 
On his way from Augsburg the Elector John had 
brought him a ring with the Protestant coat of arms. 
This, which Luther had adopted as his own in lieu of 
the family coat of arms already mentioned, was a 
rose with a heart in it, and in the heart a cross. This 
symbol speaks its own lessons. It tells of the moral 
beauty, sincerity, and self-sacrifice of the men who 
stood for what was destined to bless all the world 
through all the succeeding centuries to the coming of 
the Lord of the Church and of the world. 

No one went away from the Diet of Augsburg with 
a sadder heart than the emperor himself. In bidding 
farewell to his kinsman, the Elector John, he said 
sadly: "O, uncle, uncle! I expected better things of 
you!" The elector made no reply except the tears 
that came to his eyes. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Luther and the Further Progress of the Refor- 
mation. 

Martin Luther was now forty-seven years old, 
and he was the best-known man in all Europe. 
Princes, the pope, and even the emperor himself did 
not possess such fame. This peasant had become the 
friend and adviser of kings, the counselor of princes, 
and the untitled bishop of the Protestant Church. He 
never sought official preferment for himself, and to 
the day of his death he remained simply a professor 
at Wittenberg and the pastor of the people there. 

The great Reformation was constantly widening in 
its sweep. It was no longer a religious movement. It 
was now a great political movement as well. This 
was inevitable. The methods of Rome's propaganda 
made it so. Except when forced to do so, Rome has 
never sought to save men by making converts of sin- 
gle individuals. She has preferred what she has re- 
garded as the more effective way of bringing whole 
nations into the Church. To do this she has first se- 
cured the adhesion of temporal rulers, and through 
them brought the power of the State to bear upon in- 
dividuals. With the prestige of centuries of power, 
her pretensions, which were only ostensibly spiritual, 
have been boundless. She has gone, invited or unin- 
vited, into the palaces of kings. She has seated her- 
self by the side of judges on the bench. She has ven- 

(264) 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation, 265 

ttired into the chambers of assemblies. She has 
found her way into the headquarters of generals. 
She has sat as one bidden at the tables of the 
nobleman and the rich. She has marched with soldiers 
under every banner of every nation of Western Eu- 
rope. She has sat supreme in the sanctuary. Through 
the confessional she has entered the inner lives of men 
and women. She has stood by the dying, and dared to 
dictate the fate of the dead. And everywhere she has 
gone she has had but one object in view — the ex- 
tension and maintenance of the power of the papacy. 
Her very methods were at last the means of her undo- 
ing in many nations in Europe and the gradual down- 
fall of a power that was never righteously her own. 
Seeking to dominate the State, the State finally re- 
sisted her aggressions, and this resistance gave added 
strength to the great Reformation. The first political 
effect of the Reformation was to change the order of 
things existing before the times of Martin Luther. 
Formerly the Church had dominated the State; after- 
wards the State dominated the Church. This came 
about by a sort of reversionary right, and it was in- 
evitable, if not best. Possibly anything was better than 
the possession of political and spiritual power by an 
ecclesiastic seated in Rome who claimied everything 
in heaven and earth as ex oMcio his own. 

To write the history of the Reformation from this 
time forward, during the life of Martin Luther, would 
be to write the political and ecclesiastical history of 
Germany, as well as much of the history of the neigh- 
boring nations. Luther was not less a part of the 



266 A Life of Martin Luther, 

great movement, except as the movement had become 
greater. He was no longer a vidette and a picket; 
a great army had advanced to his support. 

In tracing the Ufe of Luther from this time it is not 
necessary to go into details as has been done up to 
this time in this study. A rapid survey of the leading 
facts will suffice. 

The adjournment of the Diet of Augsburg, as has 
already been noted, left the status quo remaining. 
But this state of things could not continue indefinitely. 
Charles had allov/ed the Protestants a year in which 
to recant and accept the counter statement issued by 
the Catholic theologians at Augsburg. This imperial 
edict might mean war if resisted, and would no doubt 
mean war if Charles could once be free to carry out the 
wishes of the pope and at the same time vindicate his 
power. To meet this emergency the Protestant 
princes resolved on preparations for armed resistance. 
Luther no longer opposed this course. He came to 
recognize the principle that when rulers exercise un- 
warranted power their subjects can lawfully resist them. 
In the early part of 1531 the Protestant princes met at 
the little town of Schmalkalden and organized the 
famous "Schmalkalden Alliance." Nine Protestant 
States and eleven free cities entered into this alliance. 
The agreement involved mutual protection in the en- 
joyment of religious freedom, and loyalty to the prin- 
ciples of the Reformation. Later, five other States 
and ten more cities entered the alliance. The League, 
for such it was called, was to last nine years. After- 
wards it was renewed, and for many years it was a 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation. 26y 

powerful factor in the preservation of Protestantism 
in Germany. France and England courted its favor, 
and offered it cooperation because it ctirtailed the 
power of Charles. This historic Schmalkalden League 
was finally consummated on February 27, 1531. 

The diet met the next year at Nuremberg. The 
Protestant faction had grown so strong that the Cath- 
olic princes and Charles himself were forced to recog- 
nize and reckon with them. A peace was concluded 
which lasted for many years. This was little more 
than a modus vivendi. All that the Protestants 
wished was not granted, but liberty of conscience and 
of worship was granted them. In fact, the status quo 
was virtually continued. This agreement has been 
called a peace. As a matter of fact, however, it was 
little more than a truce between two parties who could 
not be at permanent peace. Many times during the 
succeeding years there were rumors of a disturbing 
sort, and more than once the storm that had threat- 
ened for so long to break over Germany seemed 
ready to burst. But throughout the rest of Luther's 
life there was at least outward peace. He was hardly 
in his grave, however, before the long threatened war 
broke out between the imperial forces and the Schmal- 
kalden League. 

But there were troubles enough. It was only in ac- 
cordance with human nature that in a time like this 
men should not merely break away from the old land- 
marks of belief, but that they should go far beyond the 
bounds of reason. This tendency has already been 
noted in connection with the war of the peasants. It 



^6S A Life of Martin Luther. 

was to find another illustration about this time in the 
outbreak of the Anabaptists at Miinster. The fanat- 
ical leaders of the movement contended for many of 
the things for which the peasants had fought ten 
years before this. Their motto was, "Repent!" but 
their practice seemed to indicate that they believed 
more in rapine. They carried things with a high hand 
at Miinster. They drove out the town council because 
that body was not willing to put all their demands into 
force. They pillaged Catholic churches and establish- 
ments. They said that there were two enemies of 
Jesus in the world — ^Luther and the pope — and that 
Luther was the worse of the two. They became so 
violent that at last Protestants and Romanists were 
constrained to unite in suppressing them. 

This bloody episode of the great Reformation was 
a matter of deep regret to Luther. Some of the lead- 
ers in the movement had been followers of Luther, and 
of course his opponents were all too ready to charge 
him with responsibility for all this fanaticism. 

Another matter terminated more peaceably and sat- 
isfactorily. The Protestants of the South German 
States were disposed to accept the views of the Eucha- 
rist held by Zwingli, but they were exceedingly 
anxious to reach an agreement with Luther. In this 
effort one of the most interesting men of this period 
was leader. This was Martin Bucer. Bucer was 
eight years younger than Luther, and was a native 
of a town in Alsace. At fourteen he became a mem- 
ber of the Dominican order. Afterwards, at the sug- 
gestion of his superior, he went to Heidelberg to study 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation. 26g 

theology. His real name was "Cowhorn," but this 
did not suit his scholarly tastes, and he called himself 
by a name which is derived from two Greek words, 
the combination being supposed to represent the Ger- 
man original. At Leipsic he heard the discussion be- 
tween Luther and Eck, and was so impressed with Lu- 
ther's views that he became a Protestant. He became 
a leader of the theological school of his part of Ger- 
many, and was among the number who attended the 
diet at Augsburg in 1530. But he declined to sub- 
scribe to the confession of faith drawn up there, and 
afterwards drew up what was called the ''Tetrapolitan 
Confession." He was much inclined to a pacification 
with Luther, and in company with some of his fellow- 
theologians he waited on Luther in Wittenberg. After 
much and anxious consultation a statement was drawn 
up which, while it did not fully accord with the views 
of either party, was nevertheless subscribed to by 
both amid much joy. Bucer continued the steadfast 
friend of Luther and the Reformation. In 1549 mat- 
ters in Germany not going quite to his notion, he ac- 
cepted an invitation from Archbishop Cranmer to 
come to England and enter Cambridge University as 
a professor. He continued here only a few years, 
when death overtook him. He received honorable bur- 
ial in the land of his adoption, where he had won many 
friends. Later, when Bloody Mary came to the throne 
of England, at her instance, inspired, of course, by 
her Catholic counselors, she had the bones of the old 
German reformer and professor dug up and burned in 
the market place. 



270 A Life of Martin Luther, 

Union of Church and State has never been best for 
Church or State. A low moral standard and policies 
of government that were not for the highest interests 
of the citizen have generally resulted from this union. 
When profligate kings are the head of the Church, 
and set the pace in morals for a whole nation, as has 
too often happened, it would be a marvel if the people 
themselves were not corrupt. The union of Church 
and State, which was one of the heirlooms of Roman- 
ism in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, was one of 
the earliest perils of Protestantism. Nothing but an 
overruling providence could have saved from utter ruin 
any moral and religious movement for which the 
lecherous Henry VIII. stood sponsor. This English 
monarch, after having denounced Luther, as we have 
already seen, afterwards applied to him for indorse- 
ment of his proposed divorce from Catharine of Ara- 
gon. Luther and the other Wittenberg doctors dis- 
approved this unjustifiable separation; but of course 
their opinion had little weight with a man who had 
already made up his mind to rid himself of one wife 
that he might take another one. But a more em- 
barrassing situation developed nearer home. Philip of 
Hesse was an ardent friend of the Reformation. His 
courage and impetuous daring made him the dread of 
the Romanists and the terror of all opponents of the 
Protestant movement. His departure from Augs- 
burg, when Charles had demanded submission from 
the Lutherans, changed the whole situation there. If 
war should finally come between the Protestants and 
the Catholics, no prince would be more needed than 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation. 2^1 

Philip. But Philip confessed to Luther that he was 
not satisfied with the wife that was lawfully his, and 
asked if he might take another, as Abraham had done. 
Philip did not ask for permission to do this, but really 
announced his purpose to do so any way, and it would 
seem simply sought Luther's approval as a sort of 
salve to his conscience. We may be certain that the 
question greatly embarrassed Luther. His answer 
made a virtue of necessity. He advised Philip that if 
he did take another wife, he should do so privately. 
This affair has brought reproach upon Luther, his 
enemies charging him with the approval, if not the 
advocacy, of polygamy. Only this much m'ay be truth- 
fully admitted in this matter. Luther took the Bible 
as the standard of his faith. The Old Testament has 
often been construed into favoring polygamous mar- 
riages. In his early ministry Luther was inclined to 
accept this view in justification of such marriages in 
exceptional cases. Later, when he became a husband 
himself and entered more fully into the spirit of the 
New Testament, he did not accept this view as un- 
qualifiedly as he did at first. Rome had invested mar- 
riage with all the sanctity of a sacrament, at least in 
theory ; but this teaching had not and has never saved 
Catholic profligacy. Luther utterly rejected this doc- 
trine concerning marriage. He believed in the Bible, 
hence his ideas were not fully clarified as to Christian 
marriage. 

Charles V. really desired a reconciliation between his 
German subjects. His every interest as emperor made 
this important, if not essential. All of his efforts in 



272 A Life of Martin Luther. 

this matter, however, had the discount of one weak- 
ness. He hoped to bring about a reconcilation of the 
Protestants with Rome. He believed that this could 
be effected by mutual concessions. As we have already 
seen, this was his effort at Augsburg. The utter fail- 
ure there did not discourage him. Too much was in- 
volved for the matter to be given up yet. A new pope 
Paul in., had succeeded Clement. This pontiff 
showed a more pacific spirit than any of his immedi- 
ate predecessors. He gathered about his court some 
of the ablest and most conservative men of the 
Catholic Church. His most trusted adviser was the 
noble Venetian, Contarini. This cardinal held views 
that were little less advanced than those of Martin 
Luther himself. He accepted the doctrine of justifi- 
cation by faith alone. He admitted that the Church 
had been in a sort of Babylonian captivity, as Luther 
had claimed. He was disposed to treat the Protest- 
ants with high consideration. He favored the calling 
of a general council and, what was more wonderful 
still, advocated the policy of inviting the Lutherans to 
take part in this council. This was Charles's proposed 
method, and had been his plan for some time. And 
Paul gave it a semiapproval. Negotiations were held 
with the Protestants looking to this proposed council. 
A high papal emissary waited on Martin Luther in the 
interest of this effort. This was a different attitude 
from that which Rome had hitherto maintained toward 
this arch heretic. Luther showed scant courtesy to 
the papal messenger. He told that distinguished per- 
sonage that if a general council should b§ bdd, it 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation. 273 

would spend its time in discussing how monks' cowls 
should be worn, and other such trifles. The papal rep- 
resentative admitted that Luther "had" struck the right 
nail on the head/' 

The name of this papal nuncio was Vergerius. He 
did not persuade Luther to accede to the wishes of the 
emperor, and ostensibly of the pope; but his contact 
with the Protestants resulted in his own acceptance of 
the principles of Protestantism. 

Luther attended a meeting of the Schmalkaldic Al- 
liance, which met to discuss the advisabiHty of at- 
tending the proposed council. He advised the mem- 
bers of the League to accept the proffered invitation. 
But he fell dangerously sick before the matter was dis- 
posed of, and his advice was not taken in the premises. 

The last effort made in Germany to effect a recon- 
ciliation between the Protestants and the Catholics 
was at a diet held at Ratisbon in 1541. Distinguished 
representatives of Catholicism and of Lutheranism 
were in attendance at the instance of the emperor. 
Bucer and Melanchthon were present as representa- 
tives of Protestantism, and the liberal and cultured 
Contarini and other distinguished Romanists were 
present. It was a notable body of notable men, actu- 
ated by a laudable desire for peace. Some statements 
touching fundamentals were agreed upon, and the 
leaders were fain to believe that a reconciliation would 
be reached. But the effort came to naught. The pope 
disapproved of the concessions Contarini had granted 
the Protestants, and that ecclesiastic was received very 
coldly on his return to Rome. The Catholics of Ger- 
18 



274 ^1 ^^f^ of Martin L^dher. 

many were equally displeased with the terms of the 
proposed reconciliation. 

While there were hindrances, the Reformation went 
forward steadily. The Protestants themselves were 
not fully in accord as to doctrines. Luther's strenuous 
devotion to his doctrine of the real presence in the 
Eucharist involved him and his fellow-reformers in 
more than one controversy. He was peculiarly sensi- 
tive as to this doctrine. In nothing else was he more 
dogmatic and less tolerant. The Protestanism of the 
twentieth century may be disposed to look upon this 
view of the sacrament as smacking strongly of Catholi- 
cism, but Luther himself did not so regard the matter. 
To him his belief was a vital part of his own faith and 
of the true faith of the Church. At one time there 
seemed a probability of a breach between Melanchthon 
and himself because of what seems to have been a 
modification of Melanchthon's views touching this doc- 
trine. It may be, however, that Melanchthon's love of 
peace was stronger than his sense of the importance 
of Luther's teaching as to the doctrine of transub- 
stantiation. 

Duke George, with whom Luther had many a tilt, 
died at last, and was succeeded in his duchy by his 
brother Henry. Henry was a Protestant, and forth- 
with added his territory to the Protestant portion of 
Germany, and thus materially strengthened the polit- 
ical power of the Reformation. Later Henry was suc- 
ceeded by his son, Maurice, who figured quite con- 
spicuously, if not always usefully, in the after history 
of Protestantism. 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation. 275 

Luther had his trials and griefs as well as his suc- 
cesses. His special friend, Agricola, adopted anti- 
nomian ideas and proclaimed his views in the pulpit at 
Wittenberg. Luther rebuked him, and he promised 
amendment. But his convictions or his prejudices 
were stronger than his sense of obligation in connec- 
tion w^ith this promise, and he offended again and 
again. At last an invitation to go to Prussia to take 
an important position in the nev/ly established Prot- 
estant Church in that part of Germany rid Luther of 
this very troublesome individual. 

The form of government the new Church should 
adopt was a matter that necessarily came up for settle- 
ment early in the Reformation. The Protestants were 
not likely to accept anything that savored of popery. 
Luther rejected altogether the doctrine of apostolic 
succession. He would have no ordination to the office 
of bishop that came by way of the popes. A bishopric 
became vacant. John Frederick, who had succeeded 
his father, the worthy John, in the electorate of Sax- 
ony, chose Luther's associate in the Reformation, Ams- 
dorf, and Luther himself ordained that ecclesiastic to 
the office of the first Protestant bishop in Germany. 
He was assisted in the service by several other preach- 
ers, and he asked the people to give their assent to the 
selection by saying "Amen," which the congregation 
did very heartily. 

Even the last years of Luther's life were not free 
from controversy. The faithful watchman upon the 
towers of Zion allowed no enemy to approach una- 
wares. As usual, he was bitter against the pope. His 



276 A Life of Martin Luther. 

antipathy to the occupant of the papal see grew strong- 
er with his advancing 3^ears. His hatred of the papacy 
even entered into his prayers. He said that instead of 
the pope being the holy father he was the "hellish fa- 
ther." If this language seems severe, we must re- 
member, as Froude says, that "Luther saw the wolf 
without any sheep's clothing." 

For more than twenty years (ever since the days of 
the indulgences) Luther had a controversy, active or 
in a state of temporary suspension, with Archbishop 
Albert. That ecclesiastic had certainly not lived a life 
that was above reproach. At last he added to his 
many other immoralities the murder, under the pre- 
tense of law, of a trusted financial agent, to hide from 
his constituents the base uses to which he had put the 
money which he had wrung from them. Albert was 
a relative of the electoral family of Saxony, but Luther 
made an attack on him at this time which was full of 
bitter denunciation. He called Albert a murderer, and 
declared that he ought to be hanged upon a gallows 
ten times as high as that on which his poor victim 
was executed. Albert owed his elevation to the cardi- 
nal's position to Luther, the pope giving him this place 
as a sort of rebuke to Luther for the lattei's fight on in- 
dulgences; but Luther was a thorn in his side all his 
Hfe. 

Luther had the great satisfaction of seeing his friend, 
Justus Jonas, installed as pastor in one of the principal 
Churches of Halle, which had been one of the favorite 
residences of the Cardinal Albert and the scene of 
much of his debauchery. 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation. 277 

For many years Charles had promised a general 
council to take into account the abuses that had grown 
up in the Church of Rome, and had held this out as an 
olive branch to the Protestants. For many reasons, 
chief among which was the unwillingness of the popes 
to call such a gathering, the promise was long in ful- 
fillment. At last, only a few months before Luther 
died, the Council of Trent met in the city of the Tyrol 
which gave its name to the gathering. This historic 
body sat intermittently, at Trent and at Bologna, 
from 1545 to 1563. Of course the doings of the coun- 
cil of Trent do not enter into the facts of Luther's life, 
but it may be stated truthfully that but for the work 
of Luther the pope would not have called a general 
council at this time. If the Council of Trent corrected 
any of the wrongs of the Church (and Catholics be- 
lieve that it did), due credit should be given to the 
man who had dared to call attention to these evils. Lu- 
ther, under ban for much of his life, was nevertheless 
the most helpful man of his age to the very Church that 
had condemned him and would gladly have lighted a 
bonfire about his body that would have illuminated all 
the world. 

This study of Martin Luther's connection with the 
great Reformation may properly close with the follow- 
ing summary of his teachings. It is taken from the ar- 
ticle on Luther in the Universal Encyclopedia, by Dr. 
Henry E. Jacobs, Professor of Divinity in the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia: 

I. The entire corruption of human nature by sin, the con- 
sequent divine wrath and condemnation, and natural inability 



278 A Life of Martin Luther. 

for self-recovery or response to the first approaches of divine 
grace. 

2. God's grace and mercy received entirely from his grace 
and free will, and not from any preceding disposition of sinful 
man. In his earlier years Luther taught absolute predesti- 
nation. 

3. The vicarious sufferings of Christ as the price of man's 
redemption, the sufferings of the human nature having acquired 
infinite efficacy by its union with the divine nature in the one 
divine, human person. 

4. Justification is not an internal change in man, but is an 
external act of God alone, whereby, for the sake of Christ's 
merits, received by faith, he forgives sin and pronounces sin- 
ful man righteous. 

5. Faith is a work of the Holy Ghost in man wrought 
through the means of grace, and its essential factor is personal 
confidence in the merits of Christ. 

6. The means of grace are the Word and sacraments, which 
are inseparably attended by the Holy Spirit, so that they are 
never without efficacy, although this efficacy does not work 
so as to save those who repel the Spirit's approaches. 

7. Baptism is a means both of regeneration and renewal. 
Those who after baptism fall from baptismal grace return 
by faith to the covenant first made in baptism. All repentance 
is a return to baptism. 

8. The presence of the body and blood of Christ and its 
reception in the bread and wine are the surest pledge of the 
accomplished fact of redemption and its application to the in- 
dividual believer. Like absolution, its effects are the individ- 
ualization of the general promise of the gospel; only the 
Lord's Supper accompanies the individualization, with the 
elements and with the heavenly gifts attending them as seals 
and pledges of the promise. 

9. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament 
are the final judge of all controversies; but everything in the 
constitution and worship of the Church not contrary to Scrip- 
ture is to be retained and thankfully used. 



Luther and the Progress of the Reformation, 279 

10. In the New Testament, besides the priesthood of our 
High Priest, Jesus Christ, there exists only the spiritual priest- 
hood of all believers, since they have access to Christ direct- 
ly, and without the mediation of saints, angels, or any priestly 
order. 

11. The ministry and the priesthood are therefore distinct 
institutions. The ministry belongs to the whole Church, but 
its duties are to be exercised only by those who are duly called 
and set apart to this purpose In exceptional cases, however, 
the power inherent in any Christian congregation may admit of 
a ministry arising anew from within. 



CHAPTER XX. 
Luther at Home and among His Friends. 

Martin Luther's life was one long battle. From 
the day he first realized his need of personal salvation 
to the day of his death there was unceasing conflict. 
But his contention was never selfish or personal. His 
battle was for the truth and for others. 

There was one place, however, where there was 
peace. This was his home. He was happily married 
indeed, and his home life was beautiful. In the bosom 
of his family he found a haven of rest, and in the love 
of his Katharina he found the solace which gives 
strength. His own happy marriage inspired this trib- 
ute to the married state and to a good wife: "Next to 
God's Word the world has no more precious treasure 
than holy matrimony. God's best gift is a pious, 
cheerful, God-fearing, home-keeping wife, with whom 
you may live peacefully, to whom you can trust your 
goods and body and life." 

Katharina certainly filled as well as inspired this 
ideal. She was a sensible, industrious woman, with 
domestic tastes and habits, whose sole ambition was 
to be a good wife and mother. But she was no mere 
weakling, and was something better than a domestic 
drudge. Luther delighted in her practical ways. He 
used to help her about the garden, took an interest in her 
fishpond, and sympathized fully and practically with all 
her common-sense schemes for the improvement of do- 
mestic conditions. 
(280) 



Luther at Home and atiwng His Friends. 281 

Katharina took full charge of the domestic estab- 
lishment and all its affairs, and thus greatly relieved 
Luther from what might otherwise have been a great 
burden. She practiced great economy, as she had need 
to do, and made the small salary of her husband suffice 
for all the needs of the household. Their home, as we 
have seen, was in the old Augustine monastery. This 
establishment seems to have been turned over to Lu- 
ther under a sort of life tenure. It was not finished 
when Luther and his wife took possession of it as their 
home, and it seems to have remained thus for most of 
the time afterwards. It stood near the town wall, and 
Luther's study was a little gable room overlooking 
this and the river. Some part of the building, this 
room included, seems to have been removed in order 
to make room for the city's fortifications. A room is 
still preserved, however, which is shown as Luther's 
room. This was probably the family sitting room. 

When Luther and his good frau began to keep 
house their income was quite modest. His salary 
was a hundred gulden, equal to less than four hundred 
dollars. After his marriage this was increased to 
two hundred gulden. Later still another hundred gul- 
den was added to his stipend. In the course of time, 
as Luther's name and influence spread abroad, he re- 
ceived many presents from distinguished men all over 
Protestant Germany, and even from foreign countries. 
The king of Denmark, after embracing the Lutheran 
faith, added an annuity to his salary which materially 
increased his income. But Luther was too liberal to 
become rich, even if his salary had been much larger. 



282 A Life of Martin Luther, 

He was quick to respond to every appeal for help. 
Once when he had no money of his own on hand, he 
took a small sum of money that had been left by the 
godfather of one of his children as a token of good 
will to the little fellow, at the time only a few days old, 
and gave it to a poor man who told a sad story of 
want. But the necessities of his growing family con- 
strained him to be more thrifty than he would other- 
wise have been. As already noted, he purchased a 
little farm, also built a little home in Wittenberg itself, 
and sought to make provision for his family after his 
death. 

Luther's mother died about four years after his fa- 
ther passed away. His brother James received the real 
estate of his father, but paid Martin some two hun- 
dred and fifty gulden for his interest in the property. 
This was equivalent to some eight or nine hundred dol- 
lars. This patrimony showed how thrifty Luther's 
father had been, and how successful in business. 

He was very fond of his wife, and with a love of 
humor that was irrepressible he frequently teased her. 
He told her once that he would give her fifty gulden 
if she would read the whole Bible through; and he 
told his friends that she became greatly interested in 
it at once. He told her that his first opinion of her 
(that she was proud) was correct, and laughingly 
called himself her servant. One of his last letters to 
her, written only a short time before he died, and sent 
from his birthplace, wfhither he had gone to settle a 
dispute between the counts of Mans f eld, bears this 
humorous address: "To my beloved housewife, Kath- 



Luther at Home and among His Friends. 2S^ 

arina, Lady Luther, Lady Doctor, Lady of the Pig 
Market at Wittenberg, my gracious wife, bound hand 
and foot in gracious service." 

The home of these two was a thoroughly religious 
one. Every morning, with his household, he would 
repeat the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the 
Lord's Prayer, and always included one of the Psalms. 
He did this, he said, to keep the mildew from gathering 
on his faith. No one entered that home (and many 
entered it) who did not receive a breath of the re- 
ligious atmosphere that pervaded it. Luther the fa- 
ther and Luther the husband and Luther the head of 
the household was as consistently religious as Luther 
the reformer. Like David returning from the sacred 
task of depositing the Ark in Jerusalem, Luther came 
from his labors to bless his own household. 

Six children in all were born to Luther and his good 
Katharina. The first of these, as we have seen, was 
John, who received his grandfather's name. He came 
about midsummer, 1526. The next year Elizabeth 
was born. She lived only eight months, when, as her 
father expressed it, "she said good-by and went to 
Jesus — through death to life." Luther marveled that 
the death of the little one made him so sick at heart — 
"almost womanish," he said. 

In 1529 Magdalene, always known in the family as 
Lena, took the place of the little Elizabeth, and from 
her very infancy seemed to get into the very heart of 
her father. She was Luther's favorite child. Her pic- 
ture shows that she was like her father in some of her 
features, and her eyes seem to have been strikingly 



284 A Life of Martin Luther. 

like his. She died when entering her teens, and her 
death was deep sorrow to Luther. Her illness was 
long and painful. While she was sick her father said : 
"I love her very much indeed; but, dear God, if thou 
wiliest to take her home, I would gladly she were with 
thee." "Lena, dear little daughter, thou wouldst gladly 
remain here with thy father ; art thou willing to go to 
that other Father ?" he asked of the dying child. "Yes," 
she answered; "Just as God wills." He knelt by her 
bed and prayed for her salvation, and the dear girl 
died in his arms. As she lay in her coffin her father 
looked at the sweet, placid face of his darling and ex- 
claimed : "Ah, my darling Lena ! thou wilt rise again, 
and shine like a star. Yea, like the sun !" And then 
he added : "I am happy in the spirit, but in the flesh I 
am sorrowful. The flesh will not be subdued." To 
the weeping members of his household and their sym- 
pathetic friends he said triumphantly: "I have sent a 
saint to heaven ! If my death could be like hers, I 
would welcome death this ver}^ moment." 

Those who have had a similar sorrow will under- 
stand the grief of Luther. He wrote to Jonas: "You 
will have heard that our dearest child is bom again 
in the eternal kingdom of God. We ought to be glad 
at her going, for she is taken away from the world, 
the flesh, and the devil. But so strong is natural af- 
fection that we cannot bear it without anguish of 
heart, without the sense of death in ourselves. When 
I think of her words and her gestures when she was 
with us, and in her departing, even Christ's death can- 
not relieve m.y agony." , 



Luther at Home and among His Friends. 285 

On her tombstone he wrote this epitaph : 

Here I, Lena, Luther's daughter, rest — 
Sleep in my little bed with all the blest. 
In sin and trespass was I born; 
Forever thus was I forlorn ! 
And yet I live, and all is good — 
Thou, Christ, redeem'st me with thy blood ! 

In 1 53 1 Luther's second son was bom. As his 
birth was close to his father's birthday, if not actually 
on it, he received his father's name. Two years later 
another son came, and to this one Luther gave the 
name of Paul, expressing the hope at his baptism that 
the child might show in his life some of the character- 
istics of his ancient namesake. A little girl, who re- 
ceived the good German name of Margaret, completed 
the household of children. 

Luther, as much engrossed as he was with his mul- 
tiplicity of work and interests, did not neglect his chil- 
dren. He recognized the obligation to train them from 
birth in the ways of righteousness and to fit them for 
ways of usefulness by giving them the best possible 
education within his means. For this last purpose he 
employed private tutors for his sons, and afterwards 
sent John away from home because there was no school 
in Wittenberg quite suitable for the boy. This oldest 
son seems to have been a bit spoiled, having given his 
father and mother some trouble. 

Children always interested Luther. Their innocent 
prattle, their unquestioning faith, their joyous hopeful- 
ness, their abounding life — all these characteristics of 



286 A Life of Martin Luther. 

childhood made children his constant study and de- 
light. His great heart was never far removed from 
the child heart. As we have already seen, some of the 
monumental work of his life was done in the prepara- 
tion of his catechisms. 

One of the inmates of his home was Lena von 
Bora, a maiden aunt of his wife's. She had been at 
the same convent as had Katharina, and head nurse 
of the establishment. After leaving the convent, and 
after Luther's marriage to her niece, she came to the 
home of the two and lived in his family as a sort of 
mother to the two and as a grandmother to their chil- 
dren. No member of the family was more beloved. 
It was she to whom Luther referred in his letter to 
Hans as Aunt Lena. She died when these children 
were still very young, and Luther said to her as she 
was passing away: "You will lie down as in a cradle, 
and sleep, and when the morning dawns you will awake 
and live forever. You will not die." 

A niece of his own, Lena Kaufmann, was also a 
dweller in his hospitable home. Luther was a sort of 
second father to her, and had the pleasure of giving 
her in marriage to a worthy young man in Witten- 
berg. It seems that there was also another niece, but 
little is known of her beyond her name. 

Besides these, there were boarding students in the 
family, the privilege of sitting at Luther's table being 
eagerly sought by young and old. Luther was gener- 
ally very communicative at table, and some of his 
sayings — indeed, many of them — have been preserved 
by some who sat at his table as inmates of the home or 



Luther at Home and among His Friends. 287 

as guests. This "Table Talk" is one of the most in- 
teresting memorials of the great reformer, and occa- 
sion will be taken in a subsequent chapter to give some 
extracts from it. 

Luther's health was precarious for a number of 
years. In 1542, believing that his death was near, he 
made his will. He left all his property to his wife. 
Nothing that he ever wrote was more characteristic 
of the man than this will. Here is an extract: 

Finally, seeing I do not use legal forms, for which I have 
my own reasons, I desire all men to take these words as mine 
— a man known openly in heaven, on earth, and in hell also; 
who has enough reputation or authority to be believed better 
than any notarj^ To me, a poor, unworthy, miserable sinner, 
the Father of all mercy has intrusted the gospel of his dear 
Son, and has made me true and faithful therein, and has so 
preserved and found me hitherto that through me many in 
this world have received the gospel and hold me as a teacher 
of the truth, despite of the pope's ban, and that of emperor, 
king, princes, priests, and all the wrath of the devil. 

Let them believe me also in this small matter, especially 
as this is mine own hand, not altogether unknown. In hope 
that it will be enough for men to say and prove that this is 
the earnest, deliberate meaning of Doctor Martin Luther, 
God's notary and witness in his gospel, confirmed by his own 
hand and seal. 

This will was duly witnessed, and John Frederick 
immediately confirmed it. 

Luther was duly mindful of the needs and rights of 
his servants. As early as 15 17, while he was still a 
monk, he had given employment to a sort of half- 
witted fellow whose name was Wolfgang, or Wolf 
Siegel. It seems that Luther employed him more 



288 A Life of Martin Luther. 

through sympathy than for any special service the 
poor fellow could render, and for the same reason kepr 
him in his employ as long as he (Luther) lived, and 
sought to make provision for him when disposing of 
his little estate. Luther loved to tease him, as he 
seems to have every one else that he was intimate with, 
and one of the most amusing mementos of the re- 
former is a paper that Luther wrote in which he states 
that the birds had lodged complaint against Wolf for 
setting traps for them and baiting these traps with 
grain, and then sleeping till eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing ; while the birds were up and eating the grain with- 
out knowing the danger that lurked so near. The 
paper went on to say that the birds prayed Luther to 
make Wolf hunt snails and the like in the daytime, in- 
stead of trying to catch them. When another servant 
left Luther's employ, after having done several years 
of hard and faithful work, Luther, being absent from 
home at the time, wrote to his wife to give him a sub- 
stantial token of regard, assuring her that others would 
remember them as they remembered the servant. Lu- 
ther realized that his enemies were alert, and only too 
anxious to find some fault or flaw in his life which 
might be magnified into a serious offense. 

In the stormy times in which Luther lived, and in 
the storms that entered his own life, it is pleasant to 
dwell upon his home and home life. Here was peace, 
here was contentment, here was happiness. He de- 
lighted in the companionship of his Katie and his 
children. They were his joy and his crown. He took 
an unfailing interest in all that concerned their tern- 



Luther at Home and among His Friends. 289 

poral and spiritual well-being. One of the charms of 
his home was music. As we have already seen, he 
played well on the flute. He said that he loved music 
because it drove the devil away. His Lena learned 
how to sing before she was four years old. He wrote 
with pride of this fact to one of his friends. The home 
of the reformer was ideal. 

Prince Bismarck once said that you never knew a 
man until you knew the enemies he had made — a sen- 
timent quite in keeping with the character of the build- 
er of the present German Empire. It is truer still that 
you cannot know an individual until you know the 
friends he has made, and the means by which he has 
m^ade those friends. We have seen something of the 
enemies Martin Luther made, and the reasons for the 
enmities cherished against him even until this day. 
It is pleasant to turn from this phase of his history 
and give some attention to those whom Luther loved 
and trusted as his friends, and who in turn looked upon 
him with the warmest affection. Luther never sought 
or won friends by flattery or policy. He was always 
too intensely earnest in his convictions to be guilty of 
lowly fawning. He gave proper reverence to those in 
authority because of their official place, but he never 
bowed the knee of suppliant submission before popes 
or princes. He was as nearly fearless as any man that 
ever lived, and his manner corresponded with his 
positive convictions. Some of the things he wrote 
and spoke were not merely aggressive; they were 
sometimes fierce and violent. The reason he used no 
stronger language in his invectives against the papacy 
19 



290 A Life of Martin Luther. 

and its abettors was because his mother tongue afford- 
ed no stronger words. Such a man would most surely 
make enemies, and such a man would as surely win 
friends. 

Reference has already been made to the friendship 
between Luther and Melanchthon. This friendship 
continued uninterruptedly for at least thirty years. 
Luther used the most endearing terms in writing to 
Melanchthon. He opened his inmost soul to Philip. 
He sought his sympathy in the severest trials of his 
life. He was always ready to give more credit than the 
impartial historian gives to Melanchthon in the work of 
the great Reformation. He said that he was like the 
woodman who blazes the way through the wilderness ; 
while Philip was the builder who turned the trees the 
pioneer had cut down into the great structure. A theo- 
logical work by Melanchthon, called "Loci Communes/' 
and which was perhaps the first effort to systematize the 
teachings of Protestantism, had Luther's unqualified 
indorsement and his highest praise as well. 

As we have seen, Luther had warm friends among 
the nobiHty. It seems certain that Charles V. recog- 
nized his worth of character and was as kindly dis- 
posed toward him as was possible under the circum- 
stances. The ban under which he placed the reformer 
did not represent his personal feelings toward Lu- 
ther, but was the product of his connection with Rom- 
anism. 

The Elector Frederick was a most helpful friend to 
Luther, and protected him when it was not popular, 
if even safe for himself to do so, and came at last, as 



Luther at Home and among His Friends. 291 

we have seen, to accept the Lutheran views, though 
he never openly committed himself to Protestantism. 
But Frederick did not take Luther into close personal 
relations. The only time Luther ever saw this royal 
friend was when he stood before the Diet of Worms. 
But a different relation existed between Luther and 
John. When John Frederick came to the electoral 
throne Luther had the fullest personal access to him. 
In fact, the young elector regarded Luther as his 
spiritual father; while Sibyl, John Frederick's lovable 
consort, opened her young and trustful heart fully to 
the reformer. This extract from a note to him from 
Sibyl is a pleasing proof of this. She tells Luther of 
the absence of her husband, and says that she would 
be glad to receive a word in her loneliness from "her 
true friend, and a lover of the Word of God,'' and 
closes her letter thus : "You will greet your dear wife 
very kindly for us, and wish her many thousand good- 
nights, and if it is God's will, we shall be very glad 
to be with her some day, and with you also as well as 
with her. This you may believe of us at all times." 

When John lay dying, Luther was hastily summoned 
to his bedside, but arrived too late to have any intelli- 
gent communication with the elector in his last hours. 

Mention has already been made of Luther's desperate 
illness at Schmalkalden in 1537. It seemed that his last 
hour had come. His trouble was gravel. His body 
swelled, and every appliance and remedy gave him no 
relief. Even then his unfailing humor came out. "The 
Jews stoned Stephen," he said ; "but my stone, the vil- 
lain, is stoning me." At last he determined to attempt 



292 A Life of Martin Luther. 

the journey homeward, preferring to die under his 
own roof if possible. The elector had been at his bed- 
side, and promised to care for his family, and it was in 
the royal carriage the sick man began his painful 
travel. Strangely enough, while he suffered agonies 
by the way, after the first day's journey of a few miles 
he obtained relief and subsequently recovered, much 
to the joy of his friends. 

Princes and nobles sought his counsel in all difficult 
questions, and honored him with their friendship and 
confidence. They trusted him because he was un- 
selfish and true. 

Luther was equally a friend to the common people. 
He never forgot that he was a peasant by birth. His 
constant thought was for the moral and religious bet- 
terment of his "dear Germans." The poorest of the 
people had easy access to him, and found him a sym- 
pathetic friend. His years in a cloister did not wean 
his heart away from the people, but seemed to create 
a deeper love for all classes of people, high and low. 

He was always abstemious in his habits; but after 
he left the monastic life he was utterly free from asceti- 
cism. We have already spoken of his humor. This 
was one of the saving traits of his character. It 
brightened many a dark hour in his checkered life. It 
took the sting out of many a sharp speech. It ir- 
radiated his whole life and his association with his 
friends. It softened the asperities of the many con- 
troversies in which he was so often engaged, and from 
which he was never entirely free during the active years 
of his work as a reformer. His humor was not the 



Luther at Home and among His Friends. 293 

sarcasm of the cynic or of the misanthrope ; it was the 
cheerful spirit of a lover of his fellow-men, whose 
master passion was a desire to help others. It was 
not the humor of malevolence, but benevolence. It 
flashed out in the brightest wit ; it shone with the gen- 
tlest radiance; it cheered and rejoiced his own heart 
and the hearts of his friends. It was certainly a part 
of that wondrous magnetism that attracted and at- 
tached men to him. It made Luther a gentleman de- 
spite the inherent roughness of his nature, and a friend 
who went among his fellows with good cheer and good 
will — "a man and a brother." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

LuTHER^s "Table Talk.'* 

Of all the memorabilia of Martin Luther that have 
been preserved, none have interested students of his life 
more than his "Tischreden" or "Table Talk." Many 
prominent men sat down at his table in the course of 
his life, and his guests listened to him as to an oracle. 
Here men of learning and piety found an intellectual 
clearing house, where many thoughts and truths and 
convictions were exchanged, each perhaps feeling that 
he had received as much as he had given. But the 
center of this group was always the host himself, 
generously hospitable, often humorous, and always 
interesting. Few men of the age had read so much, 
fewer still knew so much, and none were more gener- 
ous in dispensing knowledge. It was a liberal educa- 
tion to sit long at that table. Fortunately for history, 
many things that Martin Luther said at his table and in 
his home have been preserved. Some of his friends 
were as faithful to him as Boswell was to old Dr. 
Samuel Johnson; but in Luther's case the chroniclers 
did not make the man famous, as in the case of Dr. 
Johnson. The first edition of Luther's "Table Talk" 
was published some twenty years after his death, by 
John Aurifaber, and the volume was an immense quar- 
to of more than twelve hundred pages. It contained 
the memoranda of Aurifaber himself, and similar 
memoranda preserved by Mathesius, Veit Dietrich, and 
(294) 



Luther's "Table Talk/' 295 

others. The "Table Talk" has been recast a number of 
times, and has been abridged into a much smaller vol- 
ume. It has been translated into English and other 
languages. Possibly these chronicling guests at Lu- 
ther's table were more faithful than discriminating 
but what they wrote down at the time of his "Talk" is 
worth much not merely as an aid to an understanding 
of Luther himself, but also of the stirring times of 
the great Reformation. Many a historic sidelight is 
thrown upon men and measures by the comments of 
Luther and his friends on passing events. 

This chapter will be given to some of the things 
Luther said to his friends at his own table. Where 
there is so much that is so good, it is difficult to select 
that which is best, especially in such a limited space. 
Such of his sayings will be given as seem to reveal the 
true character of Martin Luther. Few men have ever 
lived whose inmost thoughts have been so fully re- 
vealed to their fellow-men, and few men could stand 
a test like this without suffering infinitely more by 
such a disclosure. In Luther's "Table Talk" we see 
Martin Luther in mental and spiritual undress, and 
find but few blemishes. 

Here are some of the things that he said about wom- 
an, marriage, childhood, and home. 

"He that insults preachers of the Word and women 
will never meet with success. . . . Whosoever 
condemns them, condemns alike God and man." 

"The Saxon law, which assigns as a wife's portion a 
chair and a distaff, is too severe. It ought to be in- 
terpreted liberally, as implying by the first gift the right 



296 A Life of Martin Luther. 

of remaining in the dwelling of her husband; and by 
the second her subsistence, her maintenance. A man 
pays his servant more liberally; nay, he gives more 
than this to a beggar !" 

Ambrose Brend asked the hand of Luther's niece 
in marriage, and, as already mentioned, Luther united 
the two in wedlock. One day before they were mar- 
ried Luther came upon them apart, whispering and 
laughing after the manner of lovers, and exclaimed: 
**I don't wonder at a bridegroom having so much to say 
to his betrothed. And persons so circumstanced never 
grow weary of each other's company. So far, how- 
ever, from putting any restraint upon them, I hold 
them privileged above law and custom." 

On the occasion of the marriage of the two, he made 
use of these words : "Sir and dear friend, I here give 
unto you this young maiden, such as God in his good- 
ness bestowed her upon me; I confide her to you. 
May God bless you and render your union holy and 
happy." 

"Do as I myself did," said Luther to one of his 
friends, "when I was desirous of taking my dear 
Katharina to wife. I offered up my prayers to our 
Lord. I prayed earnestly. Do thou pray earnestly 
also. Thou hast not yet done so." 

Teasing his wife on one occasion, he said laughing- 
ly to her : "Did you say the Lord's Prayer before you 
began your admirable sermon? If you had, God would 
assuredly have prevented you from preaching." 

"If," said he on one occasion, evidently in the same 
spirit, "I were to marry again, I would carve for my- 



Luther's "Table Talk." 297^ 

self an obedient wife out of a block of marble ; for un- 
less I did so, I should despair of finding one." 

"There ought to be no interval between the betroth- 
al and the marriage," he declared. "Oftentimes the 
friends of both parties interpose obstacles." 

"When Eve was brought unto Adam," he remarked 
once, "he became filled with the Holy Spirit, and gave 
her the most sanctified, the most glorious of all ap- 
pellations. He called her Eva — that is to say, the 
mother of all. He did not call her wife, but simply 
mother — the mother of all living creatures. In this 
consists the glory and the most precious ornament of 
woman. She is fons omnium viventium — the source 
of all human life. This is a brief phrase. But neither 
Demosthenes nor Cicero could have paralleled it. It 
is the Holy Ghost himself who spoke thus through 
the medium of our first parent. As he has herein con- 
veyed so noble an eulogium upon the marriage state, 
it is for us to conceal the frailty of woman. Nor did 
Jesus Christ the Son of God contemn the marriage 
state. He himself was born of a woman, which is of 
itself the highest eulogy that could be pronounced on 
marriage." 

Seeing his little children looking with eager hope 
and wistfulness at some fruit served on the table, Lu- 
ther exclaimed : "Whoso would behold the image of a 
soul which enjoys the fullness of hope may find it in 
these infants. Ah, if we could but await with such 
joyful expectations for the life to come !" 

Once the mother brought little Magdalene to her 
father, that she might sing a favorite hymn for him. 



298 A Life of Martin Luther. 

The child showed reluctance, and the mother was 
ready to use force; but Luther interposed. "Nothing 
good comes of violence. Without grace, the works 
of the law are nought." 

One day when his wife placed one of their children, 
an infant, in his arms, he declared : ''I would willingly 
have died at the age of this child; I would willingly 
have renounced for that all the honor I have gained 
and all I am still to acquire in the world." 

"Children, after all, are the happiest. We older 
fools constantly torment ourselves and bring affliction 
on us by our eternal disputes about the Word. Is it 
true ? Is it possible ? How is it possible ? These are 
our Incessant inquiries. Whereas children, in the 
simplicity and purity of their faith, possess a cer- 
tainty, and doubt of nothing In which their salvation 
Is concerned. In order to be saved, we ought to imi- 
tate their example and hold fast to the Word of 
God alone." This was a lesson he got on one occa- 
sion. 

Nature was full of meaning and truth to Luther. 
Flowers, trees, plants, fruit, all taught and illustrated 
some divine lesson to his devout soul. One day he 
was walking in his garden in early spring, when, look- 
ing at all the verdure about him, he burst out : "Glory 
to God, who, from the dead creation thus raises up 
life again in the springtime. Behold these branches, 
how strong, how beautiful they are ! Already they 
teem and are big with the fruit they will bring forth. 
They offer a beautiful Image of the resurrection of all 
men. The winter season represents death ; the sum- 



Luther's ''Table Talk.'* 299 

mertide the resurrection. Then all things live again; 
all is verdant." 

After a spring shower, which had greatly refreshed 
all nature, he turned his eyes toward heaven and ex- 
claimed: ". . . Thou has granted to us, O Lord, 
this bounty — to us, who are so ungrateful to thee, so 
full of wickedness and avarice. But thou art a God 
of goodness ! This is no work of the devil ! No ; it is 
a bounteous thunder which shakes the earth and rouses 
it, cleaving it, that its fruits may come forth and spread 
a perfume like to that which is diffused by the prayer 
of a Christian/' 

The summer fields, covered with ripening wheat, so 
inspired him with gratitude that he broke forth in this 
earnest prayer and thanksgiving : "O, God of all good- 
ness, thou hast bestowed upon us a year of plenty; 
but not because of our piety, O Lord, but in order to 
glorify thy holy name. Cause us, O Lord, to amend 
our lives and to increase in faith and in the belief of 
thy holy Word. All in and around thee are miracles. 
Thy voice causes to spring out of the earth and out 
of the sand of the desert these beautiful plants, these 
green blades, which so rejoice the eye. O, Father, 
give unto all thy children their daily bread." 

Observing the shyness of two birds that were build- 
ing their nest in his garden, he said to the little crea- 
tures : " 'Ah, poor little birds, fly not away ! I wish you 
well with all my heart, if you would only believe me.' 
Thus we ourselves refuse to trust in God, who, so far 
from willing our condemnation, has given for us his 
own Son!" 



30O A Life of Martin Luther. 

Luther had constantly in mind the Bible and its 
truths, and wrote with a piece of chalk on the wall be- 
hind his stove, where he could see them constantly 
when in his room, these words from the sixteentli chap- 
ter of St. Luke: "He that is faithful in that which is 
least is faithful also in much : and he that is unjust in 
the least is unjust also in much." Pointing to this once 
he said: "The child Jesus still sleeps in the arms of 
Mary, his mother. He will awake one day and call us 
to account for what we have done." 

He said while being shaved one day that humanity 
was much like the beard, and needed constant atten- 
tion and watching. "Human nature has not any un- 
derstanding, not even a sentiment, respecting that mor- 
tal malady by which it is overwhelmed." 

Some one asked Luther if an injured party was 
bound to go to the party who had injured him and ask 
his pardon. He answered with emphasis : "No ; Jesus 
Christ himself has not left us such an example, nor has 
he anywhere commanded it to be done. It is sufficient 
if we pardon offenses in our heart (pubhcly when oc- 
casion calls on us to do so), and that we pray for those 
who have injured us or offended us. I myself went 
on one occasion to two persons who had injured me, 
Agricola and Dr. Jerome Schuff, but it fell out by 
chance that neither of them was at home, so I came 
back and made no other endeavor to see them. I now 
return thanks to God that I was not permitted to do 
so, as I then wished." 

Speaking of pilgrimages, he said : "In former times, 
under the papacy, pilgrimages were undertaken to visit 



Luthe/s ''Table Talk" 301 

the saints. People went to Rome, to Jerusalem, to St. 
lago of Compostella, to expiate their sins. Nowadays 
we perform our Christian pilgrimages by means of 
faith. When we read diligently the prophets, the 
Psalms, and the Gospels, we arrive not to the Holy 
City, but through our hearts and thoughts even unto 
God. This is journeying to the real land of promise, 
the paradise of eternal life." 

A preacher sent an inquiry to Luther as to the pro- 
priety of baptizing infants in warm rather than cold 
water. "Tell that blockhead," returned Luther, "that 
water is water, whether cold or hot." Evidently the 
people of Luther's time were not unlike some of a 
later generation. He said that they criticised preach- 
ers, and objected to certain mannerisms. There was 
Justus Jonas, for instance, who was a good preacher; 
but the people criticise him because he "hums and 
spits." He said with characteristic good humor that 
he thought preachers ought to be handsome men, "so 
as to please the ladies." He teased his friends who 
took such careful note of what he said, and played at 
least one practical joke on them. 

Luther did not think much of saints, a fact which 
illustrates the great revolution that had taken place in 
his religious convictions. "What are saints," he asked, 
"in comparison with Christ? They are no more than 
the sparkling drops of the night dew on the head of 
the bridegroom." 

He did not attach much importance to the evidential 
value of miracles. "The convincing testimony," he as- 
serted, "is to be found in the Word of God. Our ad- 



302 A Life of Martin Luther. 

versaries," he went on, "read the translation of the 
Bible much more frequently than we do. I believe 
that Duke George has read it more carefully than any 
one of the noblemen who are with us. He said to 
some one: *If that monk but finishes his translation of 
the Bible, he may take his departure as soon as he 
likes.' " 

This was a realistic expression of his faith : "Let our 
enemies indulge their transports of rage; God has not 
set up a stone wall to confine the waves of the ocean, 
nor has he controlled them by a mountain of steel. He 
thought it enough to place a shore, a boundary of sand." 

This statement reveals much of his experience as a 
Romanist: "I read very much in my Bible while I was 
a monk, during my youth ; but this availed me nothing. 
I simply looked upon Christ as another Moses." But 
if he had not read his Bible, he would never have dis- 
covered that Jesus was something more than another 
lawgiver. 

Luther set a proper estimate upon the Ten Command- 
ments. "The natural moral law is nowhere so well set 
forth and written down as by Moses." He thought the 
world would b^ much better governed if more of the 
Mosaic law were incorporated into civil laws, especially 
the law of divorce, of the jubilee, and of tithes. 

"The Lord's Prayer is that which I prefer," he said. 
"I constantly repeat it, mingling with it sentences from 
the Psalms. The Lord's Prayer has no equal among 
prayers. I like it better than any of the Psalms." 

Luther had read and studied the fathers of the 
Church quite thoroughly and quite discriminatingly. 



Luther's ''Table Talk/' 303 

He thought Augustine superior to any of them' — a very 
natural opinion. His judgment of these ancient writ- 
ers was summed up in the sentence : "They lived better 
than they wrote. Since I became by the grace of God 
capable of understanding St. Paul/' he added, "I have 
been unable to esteem any of these doctors ; they have 
shrunk into insignificance in my estimation." 

He makes this admission : 'T admit that I have been 
guilty of too much violence, but never with regard to 
the papacy. There ought to be set aside for the special 
service of the popish battle a tongue every word of 
which is a thunderbolt." In another reference to his 
own methods he said : "I have attacked the manners of 
the popes, as did Erasmus and John Huss ; but I leveled 
the two pillars upon which popery rested — namely, 
vows and private masses." 

Luther never expected a general council, nor any- 
thing good from one if it should be held. "It seems 
to me that we shall not have one until the day of judg- 
ment. Then our Lord God himself will hold a general 
council." 

During the debate at Heidelberg some one asked 
how the monks originated. Luther gave this answer : 
"God having ordained the priesthood, the devil, as us- 
ual, wished to imitate what he had done ; but he shaved 
too much of the hair off his men." 

Luther advocated public schools, favoring special 
schools for females. Children, he thought, should be 
kept at study for at least an hour every day, the rest of 
the time being given to the acquisition of some useful 
trade. The reformer appreciated the importance of pub- 



304 A Life of Martin Luther. 

lie libraries, equipped with books in the German lan- 
guage — books whose subjects should embrace all 
branches of learning as well as general information. 
In v/hat he said in his "Table Talk" touching these mat- 
ters it is easy to find the germs of many intellectual 
plants that have since grown up in Germany. 

"Wisdom, understanding, learning, and the pen — 
these do govern the world. If God were angry and 
took out of the world all the learned then all people 
would become like wild and savage beasts." So said 
the man who was seeking the uplift his generation, and 
with it all the world. 

Luther thought highly of music not merely as an 
art but as a moral help. "Music is one of the most de- 
lightful and magnificent presents that God has given 
us. Satan is the inveterate enemy of music, for he 
knows that by its aid we drive away temptations and 
evil thoughts ; he cannot make headway against music." 
After hearing some sweet music in his home one even- 
ing he exclaimed: "If our Lord grants us such noble 
gifts as these in our present life, what will it not be in 
the life eternal ?" 

Luther, though by no means free from superstition, 
had no faith whatever in astrology, and ridiculed its 
predictions with much sarcasm. "It may be very true 
that astrologists can predict to the wicked their future 
destiny and announce to them the death that awaits 
them, for the devil knows the thoughts of the wicked 
and has them in his power." 

"Speaking of signs," he said, "I believe they are for 
the most part delusions of the devil." 



Luther's ''Table Talk," 305 

His ideas of preaching were thoroughly practical. 
Some one complained to him that it was not always pos- 
sible to follow him in his sermons. Luther replied: 
"I cannot always follow myself. If I had my life to 
live over, I would make my sermons much shorter, 
for I am conscious that they have been too wordy.'' 
Erasmus Albertus asked Luther for some advice as to 
how he should preach before the Elector of Branden- 
burg, to whom he was to be pastor. Luther answered : 
"Your sermons should be addressed not to princes and 
nobles, but to the rude, uncultivated commonalty. If in 
my discourses I had to be thinking about Melanchthon 
and the other doctors, I should do no good at all. But 
I preach in plain language to the plain, unlearned peo- 
ple, and that pleases all parties. If I know the Greek, 
Hebrew, and Latin languages, I reserve them for our 
learned meetings, w^here they are of use ; for at these 
we deal in such subtleties and profundities so much 
that God himself, I wot, must sometimes wonder at us." 

His fearlessness in the pulpit is fully voiced in this 
declaration : "1 am very far from thinking myself fault- 
less, but I may at least boast with St. Paul that I cannot 
be accused of hypocrisy and that I have always spoken 
the truth; perhaps, indeed, somewhat too harshly. I 
would rather offend man by the acerbity of my lan- 
guage in diffusing the truth than offend God by 
keeping the truth captive in my breast. If the grandees 
are offended at my manner of preaching, they are quite 
at liberty to leave me to myself. I and my doctrine can 
do without them. I do them no wrong, no injustice. 
The sins I myself commit it is for God to pardon." 
20 



3o6 A Life of Martin Luther, 

Some of Luther's biographers have seemed to take 
pleasure in exploiting his superstition as that super- 
stition is revealed in his "Table Talk." It may be said 
once for all that Luther, while in advance of his age 
in many things, had not fully shaken off the supersti- 
tions that the Romish Church had bound about him in 
his early life, and he was never entirely free from them. 
It would be manifest!}^ unfair to compare this en- 
lightened man of the sixteenth century with the en- 
lightened men of the twentieth century. 

A few detached aphoristic sayings will conclude our 
quotations from the "Table Talk." 

"There is an undying antagonism between the law- 
yers and the theologians." 

"I leave the shoemaker, the tailor, and the lawyer in 
their proper places. But let them beware how they in- 
trude upon my province." 

"I care not for any law that does wrong to the poor." 

"There is but one single point in all theology — gen- 
uine faith and confidence in Jesus Christ. This article 
comprehends all the rest." 

"Our faith is an unutterable sigh." 

"Ah, how painful it is to lose a friend that one has 
tenderly loved." 

"Good and true theology consists in practice, use, and 
exercise. Its basis and foundation is Christ." 

"We fear the cloud, and distrust the rainbow." 

"That same 'why' hath done us a great deal of harm. 
It was the cause of Adam's destruction." 

"I fear two things, epicurism and enthusiasm ; these 
are the schisms that are still to come." 



Luther's ''Table Talk." 307 

'The devil is a haughty spirit, and can't bear to be 
treated with contempt in any way." 

"We are our own jailers." 

"He who destroys the doctrine of the law, at the 
same time destroys social and political order." 

"One of these days some new books will be started in 
competition, and the Holy Scriptures will be slighted, 
despised, jerked into a corner — thrown, as they say, 
under the table." 

"That which contributes in no slight degree to affect 
and try men's hearts is that God seems to them ca- 
pricious and changeable." 

"We need not invite the devil to our table. He is too 
ready to come without being asked." 

"The devil fears the Word of God. He can't bite 
it. It breaks his teeth." 

"Faith is a wonderful thing. It makes the weak 
strong." 



CHAPTER XXII. 
LuTHER^s Last Days. 

Martin Luther was a marvel of diligence. Reared 
in a home where industry was a law, he was true to his 
tutelage. He did not relax for anything but sickness. 
He had many helpers in his great labors as time went 
on, but to the day of his death there were delicate and 
vital tasks which he alone could carry to a successful 
finish. He spent much of his time for a quarter of a 
century in the translation of the Bible. He went 
over this again and again. He not only studied He- 
brew that he might render the Old Testament into 
German; he studied German itself. He took every 
opportunity to become acquainted with the language 
spoken by the common people. He used his own ob- 
servation and the observation of his friends to arrive 
at this acquaintance. And has already been stated, he 
helped more than any other one individual of his own 
age or any subsequent age in fixing th-e German 
vernacular. 

And he wrought in many other fields. If all that he 
wrote on various subjects, notably if his controversial 
writings be taken into account, the outcome of his life 
work in this particular seems enough to absorb the full 
sixty-three years that he lived. 

Next to his translation of the Bible itself, and possibly 
to his catechisms, his most valuable literary work was 
his commentaries on various parts of the Bible. These 

(308) 



Luther's Last Days. 309 

of course originated in his lectures at Wittenberg. Ref- 
erence has already been had to his commentary on the 
Epistle to the Galatians, and to the effect it had on the 
life of John Wesley. It is not too much to say that, 
after St. Paul, Martin Luther did more than any other 
man to formulate the doctrine of justification by faith. 
Martin Luther made this doctrine luminous ; John Wes- 
ley vitalized it as a Christian experience. To the one 
it was a dogma; to the other it was a living fact of 
Christian experience. 

Luther continued his lectures up to the last. The year 
before he died he completed a series of discourses 
on the book of Genesis. He preached as often as 
strength and opportunity allowed. He was never the 
regular pastor of the Wittenberg Churches, but often 
served in that capacity in the absence of the regular 
pastors; and even when the regular incumbents were 
in place he had free access to the pulpit of the uni- 
versity chapel, as well as of all the other pulpits of the 
little city. In his several journeys he preached every- 
where he went if time afforded an opportunity. If 
he had done no other religious work, his preaching 
alone would have made his life notable. It may be 
stated with absolute truth that one of the effects of 
the great Reformation was to revive the preaching of 
the gospel. Occasionally here and there during the 
Middle Ages there had been a man who seemed to 
realize that he had a message of salvation to men; 
but the mummeries of the priests from Sabbath to 
Sabbath at the beginning of the Reformation had little 
gospel and no vitality. 



3IO A Life of Martin Luther, 

Luther's life toward its close was overshadowed by 
the disappointment which invariably enters into the 
experience of great men who undertake great things 
for their fellow-men. Hope is an essential element in 
the mental and moral equipment for such movements, 
and hope that inspires to heroic effort rarely sees a 
full consummation of its endeavor. The disappoint- 
ment of Elijah after Carmel was so bitter that he was 
ready to die. He believed that the fire from heaven 
and the shout of the people and the slaughter of the 
priests of Baal meant the turning of the whole nation 
to Jehovah again. When he found later that the scenic 
splendor of the event on Carmel had not brought his 
loved Israel back to the God of their fathers, he was 
ready to pronounce sentence of failure upon all that 
he had done. Deep sadness pervades the later Epis- 
tles of St. Paul, and he told the Ephesian elders that 
he knew that after his death greedy wolves would break 
into the flock. Every apostle and every reformer 
and every revivalist has sooner or later realized that 
as yet it is only a dream that a nation should be born 
in a day. 

Luther was disappointed in the fruits of the Refor- 
mation. At first there had been a marked improve- 
ment in morals in many places. Later the invariable 
reaction came on. Even in Wittenberg many of the 
people went back to their old ways. All this distressed 
Luther deeply. It gave his enemies occasion to speak 
against the Protestant movement. They said that it 
had produced no moral betterment among those who 
accepted Lutheranism. So seriously did Luther take 



Luther's Last Days, 311 

all this that he proposed to Katharina that they should 
retire to their little farm and spend their remaining 
days in quietude. But of course the friends of Luther 
and of Lutheranism would not hear to all this. They 
insisted that Luther was needed as much now as at 
any time in all the several stages of the Reformation 
up to this point to aid in correcting the evils of which 
he complained. The magistrates of Wittenberg prom- 
ised to take more vigorous steps in suppressing cer- 
tain abuses and excesses. The situation became so 
unbearable at one time that he left Wittenberg for a 
vacation, and was rather tardy about returning. The 
change helped him in health as well as in spirit, and 
his neighbors became so much concerned over his 
protracted absence that the town authorities promised 
to take immediate action in the matters about which 
Luther felt so grieved. The Elector John Frederick 
sent him his private physician to minister to him 
in some ailment from which he was suffering, and 
was ready to scold him for going away so unceremo- 
niously. 

The situation of the Protestants was grave enough 
to occasion apprehension. The Council of Trent was 
coming on. At first there had been the hope that this 
council would be composed of Protestants as well as 
Catholics. Charles had intimated as much time and 
again ; and a papal legate, as we have seen, had called 
on Luther in the interest of such a council. But all 
hope of anything so irenic was now dispelled. Paul, 
whatever may have been his views when he entered 
the Vatican, could not withstand the pressure of the 



312 A Life of Martin Luther. 

curia. Few rulers, civil or ecclesiastical, have divested 
themselves willingly of any of their authority. Lu- 
ther knew what all this meant, and one of the fiercest 
attacks he ever made on the papacy was his last one. 
Reference has already been made to this onslaught. 

And there were other troubles. The ambitious and 
unscrupulous Maurice had succeeded to the Saxon 
duchy. He was ready to quarrel with his kinsman, 
John Frederick, over some border rights on the line 
between their territories. Maurice was nominally 
Protestant, but like many other princes of his time, 
his religious views were only secondary and subsidiary 
to his political ambitions. The friction between his 
elector and Maurice grieved Luther, and he used his 
good offices in the interest of peace. In this he was 
materially aided by Philip of Hesse, whose daughter 
Maurice had wedded. 

The hope that cheered Luther in many of the dark 
days of his life, and which came to him at this time as 
a sort of last expectation of relief, was that the second 
coming of Christ was near at hand. He interpreted 
various passages in the prophets to mean this, as has 
already been stated, and the conviction grew stronger 
as he grew older. He seemed to see no other escape 
for the Church, and he rejoiced in this hope with in- 
creasing satisfaction. Perhaps the hope itself was 
born of his increasing concern and despondency. This 
expectation has been the dernier resort of many good 
men in all the ages. 

If Luther was at times morbid, as he certainly was, 
the fact is not a matter of surprise. Indeed, the won- 



Luther's Last Days. 313 

der is that he was not more so. It was only natural 
that he should brood over the fact that he was a po- 
litical outcast. More than this, through many years 
his mind often turned to thoughts of the enmity of 
Rome that was liable at any time to vent itself upon 
him in the crudest possible death. None but a man 
mightily upheld of God could have borne the burden 
of the great Reformation. This was not the burden 
of a day or a year ; it was the burden of a lifetime. Add- 
ed to all his other cares, for many years of his life his 
health was precarious. A number of times he seemed 
in the very grasp of death. Often he was forced to 
suspend all work for days together on account of phys- 
ical ailments. He suffered for a score of years with 
dizziness and pains in his head, and sudden fainting 
spells. It seems that his heart was involved function- 
ally, if not organically. Deep despondency often set- 
tled upon him, and sometimes his harassed soul would 
break out in bitter denunciation of his enemies and 
complaints that were like echoes from the plaint of 
the afflicted man of Uz, if not from the Man of Sor- 
rows himself. Once, so the story goes, he was so 
sorrowful for days together that his good wife with 
characteristic good sense decided to employ a novel 
but effective remedy for his persistent depression. 
She appeared at table one morning dressed in deep 
mourning. Luther looked at her in surprise. She 
answered his look and question with the startling ex- 
planation : "The Lord is dead." Luther protested that 
the Lord could not die. Then the good Katharina told 
him that he had been so sad of late that she supposed 



314 A Life of Martin Luther. 

he had lost his Lord. The appeal was one that would 
likely strike Luther most effectively, and he rallied. 

Most of the time, however, Luther was cheerful; 
and the very opposition he encountered at every step 
of his way seemed but to make him stronger and more 
hopeful. Like the stormy petrel, he walked the waves 
of his troubled life with a fearlessness that never 
quailed in the presence of the never-ceasing tempest. 

Infirmities came on with advancing years and con- 
stant ill health. He declared that he was prematurely 
old. The years of unwholesome life in the monastery 
were exacting the tribute for overdrawn strength and 
an underfed body. His hair turned white. His eye- 
sight failed. His hearing grew dull. Bodily weak- 
ness was his constant companion, and ever a matter 
of weary consciousness. The shadow upon the dial 
plate of his years would not go backward, and seemed 
to go onward faster as the sun approached its setting. 
He knew that his day was nearly done, but the night 
had no terrors for him. He only hastened to com- 
plete the unfinished tasks before the darkness should 
fall. 

There was pathetic fitness in his last journey and 
his last mission. The counts of Mans f eld had a dis- 
pute of long standing. They decided at last to submit 
the matter to the decision of Martin Luther. These 
noblemen were willing to risk the justice and im- 
partiality of this son of a peasant. Human authorities 
had not made him a ruler and a judge over them, but 
they knew they could trust Luther. Character counts 
for more than official titles in winning men's confidence. 



Luther's Last Days. 315 

These counts of Luther's native place were unwittingly 
paying the highest possible tribute to the integrity of 
the man whose birth among them sixty years before 
had attracted no attention outside the narrow circle of 
the family. 

Luther journeyed to Eisleben, his native town, in 
the middle of the winter of 1545-46 on his massion of 
peace. It was imprudent for him to make such a trip 
at this time of year, but he wished to act as mediator 
between his old neighbors. 

This Mansfeld matter really required three journeys 
to Eisleben. The first of these was made in October. 
But the counts were not ready. Coming home, he 
celebrated his last birthday with his family and friends. 
He was merry and playful, and seemed full of hope. 
And yet he seemed to have a presentiment of approach- 
ing death. But this was no unusual experience with 
him. He finished his lectures on Genesis in No- 
vember. In his final words he spoke in modest self- 
depreciation of his work, and said that he hoped an- 
other would be able to prepare a better commentary 
on this book. He made his second trip to Eisleben 
about Christmas time, as already stated. He was ac- 
companied by Melanchthon, as well as some others. 
Melanchthon falling ill, Luther brought him back to 
Wittenberg. The last journey to Eisleben was made 
late in January. His three sons and their tutor ac- 
companied him, as did Jonas. He preached at several 
points along the way. Arriving at Eisleben about 
January 24, 1546, he was received with distinguished 
honor. A cavalcade of soldiers escorted him into the 



3i6 A Life of Martin Luther. 

town. He was given quarters in a most comfortable 
building belonging to the town, and his table was well 
supplied. He entered at once upon the matters in 
controversy between the counts. There were tedious 
details. Lawyers represented the contending parties. 
Luther sometimes grew impatient and wrote to Kath- 
arina that he was ready to "grease his carriage" and 
'Hn mea ira'' start homeward; but he restrained his 
impatience. He loved all Germany, and his native 
place especially, and was ready to undergo any reason- 
able sacrifice for the sake of his compatriots of Mans- 
feld and Eisleben. 

In the meantime the good Katharina was deeply 
anxious about his health, and she had good reason to 
be. On his way to Eisleben he had encountered high 
water, cold winds, and all the frigid uncertainties of a 
Gernian winter. Luther reassured her and reproved 
her. He wrote to her three times in fourteen days. 
One of these letters, and the longest of them, follows. 
The real Martin Luther is in it. It was written on Feb- 
ruary 7, 1546, and the original is still preserved in the 
Rhediger Library, at Breslau. It was this letter that 
bore the humorous address to his wife already quoted. 
Llere is the letter: 

Mercy and peace in the Lord. Pray read, dear Katie, the 
gospel of St John and the Catechism, of which you once de- 
clared that you yourself had said all that it contained. For 
you wish to disquiet yourself about your God, just as if he 
v/ere not almighty and able to create ten Martin Luthers for 
one drowned perhaps in the Saale or fallen dead by the fire- 
place or on Wolf's fowling floor. Leave me in peace with 
your cares. I have a better Protector than you and all the 



Luther's Last Days. 317 

angels. He (my Protector) lies in the manger, and hangs upon 
a virgin's breast. But he sits also at the right hand of God 
the Father Almighty. Rest therefore in peace. Amen. 

I think that hell and all the world must now be free from 
all the devils, who have come together here to Eisleben for 
my sake, it seems, so hard and knotty is this busniess. There 
are fift>^ Jews here, too, as I wrote you before. It is now said 
that at Rissdorff, hard by Eisleben, where I fell ill before my 
arrival, more than four hundred Jews were walking and rid- 
ing about. Count Albert, who owns all the country round 
Eisleben, hath seized them upon his property, and will have 
nothing to do with them. No one has done them any harm 
as yet. The widowed Countess of Mansfeld is thought to be 
the protectress of the Jews. I don't know whether it is true, 
but I have given my opinion in quarters where I hope it will 
be attended to. It is a case of beg, beg, beg, and helping them. 
For I had it in my mind to-day to grease my carriage wheels 
in niea ira. But I felt the misery of it too much; my native 
home held me back. I have been made a lawyer, but they 
will not gain by it. They had better have let me remain a 
theologian. If I live and come among them, I might become 
a hobgoblin who would comb down their pride by the grace of 
God. They behave as if they w^ere God himself, but must 
take care to shake off these notions in good time before their 
Godhead becomes a devilhead, as happened to Lucifer, who 
could not remain in heaven for pride. Well, God's will be 
done. Let Master Philip see this letter, for I had no time to 
write to him; and you may comfort yourself with the thought 
how much I love you, as you know. And Philip will under- 
stand it all. 

We live very well here, and the town council gives me for 
each meal half a pint of "Reinfall." Sometimes I drink it 
with my friends. The wine of the country here is also good; 
and Naumberg beer is very good, though I fancy its pitch 
fills my chest with phlegm. The devil has spoiled all the beer 
in the world with his pitch, and the wine with his brimstone. 
But here the wine is pure, such as the country gives. 



3i8 A Life of Martin Luther. 

And know that all letters you have written have arrived, 
and to-day those have come which you wrote last Friday, 
together with Master Philip's letters, so you need not be 
angry. 

Sunday after St. Dorothea's day (February 7, 1546). 

Your loving Martin Luther. 

A week later he wrote to Katharina telling her of 
the happy termination of his mission, and rejoicing that 
God was ''Exaiiditor precum." He also sent her a 
nice lot of trout, a present from Albert, and assured 
her that he would take his journey homeward during 
the week. He did take that journey, but went in his 
coffin. This was his last letter to his beloved Katha- 
rina. 

Luther's mission to Eisleben was eminently suc- 
cessful. An amicable agreement was reached. Cer- 
tain questions touching a division of revenue between 
the Church and the schools were settled, and the 
schools of this part of Germany are still rejoicing in the 
fruits of this settlement. The pacification was re- 
ceived with great joy by old and young. On Sun- 
day, February 14, Luther preached for the last time. 
He cut his sermon short with the remark that there was 
much more to the gospel, but he was too weak to speak 
of it then. He had not told all the story (as who has?), 
and he wanted his hearers to remember the inexhaust- 
ible depths of the infinite gospel. 

Luther became alarmingly weak after the Sabbath 
on which he preached his last sermon. The details of 
the settlement were not fully arranged, but Luther was 
spared the worry of these. His necessary official sig- 



Luther's Last Days, 319 

nature to the terms of the agreement was all that was 
asked of him. As for the rest, all that the most loyal 
friends and the best skill of the times could do in the 
way of medical treatment was given to the sick and 
dying reformer. On Wednesday he complained of 
oppression in his chest. Hot cloths were used in the 
afternoon, and he seemed better. That evening at sup- 
per he came from his little bedroom and took his place 
at the supper table. He declared that there was no 
satisfaction in being alone. He was apparently much 
better. He talked cheerfully, even merrily, with the 
company. But as always, there was more than mere 
pastime in his conversation. 

After supper he seemed not so well, but grew easier, 
and at nine o'clock, as was his wont, he stood in front 
of the window and, looking out upon the winter night, 
prayed earnestly. Then he lay down upon a leather 
lounge in the room, and fell into a peaceful sleep. 
This lasted for an hour or more, when he awoke and 
was again given treatment for his shortness of breath. 
Then he fell asleep again on his bed in his private 
apartment. After midnight he awoke and complained 
of being cold. Soon he began to suffer great agony. 
All efforts to relieve him were in vain. The end was 
near at hand. He was strong enough to leave his bed 
and walk from one room to another. "Into thy hands 
I commend my spirit, O Father V he cried several 
times, "for thou hast redeemed me." 

Several times he repeated the sixteenth verse of the 
third chapter of John: "For God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 



320 A Life of Martin Luther. 

lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." 

He threw himself upon his bed once more. His ex- 
tremities grew cold. Justus Jonas, who had been with 
him all the time, bent over him and asked : "Venerable 
father, wilt thou stand by Christ and the doctrines thou 
hast preached?" 

And from the lips of the dying reformer came a 
whispered but emphatic "Yes." He turned upon his 
right side, drew one long, deep breath, and was dead. 
He died between two and three o'clock in the morning 
of Thursday, February i8, 1546. 

Germany had known no more sorrowful night in 
all its history. A great conqueror had not gone down 
before the conqueror of all ; a great king had not sur- 
rendered to the king of terrors. Martin Luther, the 
great reformer, was no more ! 

A cry of sorrow went up from all Protestant Ger- 
many when it was known that Martin Luther was 
dead. The Elijah of the great Reformation had fallen. 
"The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" had 
departed. The mightiest man of his age, and one of 
the mightiest of all the ages, was ready to be laid in 
his grave close to the church on whose doors he had 
posted the theses that stirred the world. But he died 
not by the hands of the pope nor by the sentence of the 
princes, but in his own bed, surrounded by his devoted 
friends, and from natural, providential causes, at the 
call of his Master. 

His papal enemies with Satanic hate sought to libel 
him even in death. A year before he died they had 



Luthe/s Last Days. 321 

circulated a slanderous report of his death and the 
manner of his passing. The heathen motto : ''De mor- 
tiiis nil nisi boniim," has not restrained the vindictive 
tongues of the Roman Catholics concerning Martin Lu- 
ther, lying peacefully in his grave in the churchyard in 
Wittenberg these four hundred years. 

A last painting of the reformer was made by an 
humble artist in Eisleben, and a wax bust was made 
from the body. Friends vied with each other in hon- 
oring the man who had honored his people and his 
Lord. A great funeral procession followed the body 
on its journey to Wittenberg. In every town and vil- 
lage and hamlet through which the mournful company 
passed on the sorrowful journey the people rose up to 
honor the dead man and to weep at his going. 

The procession reached Wittenberg on February 24, 
and here on the day following there was a great fu- 
neral, with solemn ceremonies and sorrowful hearts 
in every home in the little city. 

The centuries have borne testimon}^ to the work of 
Martin Luther. The Christian world has made up its 
verdict as to the character of that work; while the 
man himself, who was only a man, subject to like pas- 
sions with ourselves, has gone into the presence of the 
Judge to whom he appealed his case from the de- 
cision of popes and diets, and we know that the Judge 
of all the earth will do right. 
21 



JUN 12 1911 



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